


This is not a Love story

by bitcheesquared



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:59:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitcheesquared/pseuds/bitcheesquared
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post:  S04E04<br/>Katherine is back in town, and she's finally ready to tell the real truth. She's come to claim what is hers and no stupid little vampire doppelganger is going to get in the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lessons learned.

Chapter One  
Lessons learned.

Damon closed his bedroom door with a decisive click.

Leaning his forehead against the door, he breathed in deeply and let it out slow.

That was it, he was officially done. He'd thought he'd finally reached her, he thought she'd finally understood that being a vampire, could be about more than doom, gloom and the unending fight against the blood lust. Looks like he was wrong.

For a moment there, she'd been the girl he'd known so briefly in Georgia and he'd actually let himself hope that she was finally on the path to accepting what she was. Of course, it had all come crashing down the moment she realized she was actually feeling happy, and with Damon no less.

Shit! when was he going to learn. 

Elena Gilbert, would never be happy with him, not if they both lived a thousand years. She wanted to be the caring human girl, that she had been before her transition and no amount of blood or fun, would lure her from her determination. And of course, good old Stefan would be there to make sure that she stayed on the straight and narrow. Even if it did end up destroying her.

Well fuck that! 

He banged his head against the door, just once and not hard enough to do any damage to either head or door. Then straightening up, he started to shrug out of his jacket. 

An appreciative murmur from the vicinity of his bed, had him whipping around. Nonplussed, that he hadn't sensed her presence, he blinked confusedly at the sight of Katherine Pierce. 

"Hello Lover, did you miss me?"

He groaned, tempted to hit his head again in the vain hope, that it might make the image of the half naked vampire on his bed, disappear.

"What do you want Katherine? Actually... scratch that. Just get out."

Slipping his jacket the rest of the way off, he tossed it over a nearby chair and started to unbutton his blood stained shirt. 

"Charming as ever I see...and as appreciative as I am for the show my love, I actually came to talk. Well first..."she trailed off, eyeing him suggestively.

He rolled his eyes at her antics, before completely ignoring her in favor of his bathroom and a much needed hot shower.

If he thought his attitude might deter her, he was destined for disappointment. She shrugged casually and followed him into the bathroom.

Determined to continue ignoring her, Damon reached in and flipped the faucet on in his shower before starting to shed his clothes.

"Hmm... maybe your right, my sweet boy, talking is highly over rated. How about I wash your back and you can wash mine." she purred lasciviously.

Damon could feel her eyes trailing over his body, the weight of her gaze and her obvious desire; as heavy as if her hands were already upon him. 

Great, just what he needed... another Petrova vampire messing with his head. Why the fuck couldn't he get a moments peace. Why did it seem like the universe had it in for him?  
He was so not in the mood for any of Katherine's usual games. 

He looked up, intent on telling her how much he really didn't want her anywhere near him, especially not in a biblical sense, but the words fled as he took in the sight of the now naked woman and the expression on her face.  
He'd seen many and varied looks directed his way, during his time with her, but he'd never seen one quite like this, not directed at him. There was lust of course, that was expected, but it was the strange yearning and softness in her gaze that had him stymied.  
Katerina Petrova did not ever; as in never, look at him the way she was looking at him now. 

Unclothed and naked in every way that counted; ways he couldn't have expected, she stood before him and met his gaze fearlessly. 

"What are you doing Katherine?" 

He winced at the obvious tremor in his voice.

God, she looked so much like Elena at the moment. If he didn't know for a fact that Elena was upstairs with his brother right now, he would have thought all his fantasy's were coming true.

Stepping past him and into the shower, Katherine glanced up at him from under lowered lashes.

Damon resisted the urge to rub his eyes at her look. Great, now he was hallucinating. There was no way Katherine, the queen bitch from hell, looked nervous. 

Turning to face her, he tried to ignore the way the water flowed over her naked curves. Her dark tresses caressing her nipples, as the water darkened her mahogany locks to a hue, complimented by her darkness in her eyes. 

Swallowing past the unexpected knot that had formed in his throat, Damon once again tried to make sense of her actions.

"What's this all about Katherine? Why are you really here?"

When she reached out an arm for him, he reacted without thinking. 

Grabbing the proffered arm he pulled her from the shower. Hauling her naked form against his own, he met her startled look with a glare.

"For the last time, Katherine. What are You-Up-To?"

Katherine met his stare defiantly, her body relaxing in to him, even as her free hand came up to caress his cheek.

"I've been following you." she admitted her voice hardly louder than a whisper. "Ever since I heard about Elena. I knew you would need me, so I've been back since the just after the council went boom. I was there tonight Damon, I heard what she said..." 

"And you what" Damon cut in bitterly "You thought you'd come offer some cold comfort to the poor pathetic loser?" he dropped her arm. 

"Thanks, but no thanks, Katherine, I'm not gonna be your consolation prize just because baby bro and Elena, finally get to live out their fluffy rainbow eternity together. I'm not quite that sad, at least not yet. And news flash baby, you are hardly my idea of a consolation prize anyway, I'd rather sleep with a fucking shark, It would leave less damage." he snarled.

He tensed waiting for her retaliation, sure it would be swift and brutal, and exactly what he needed right now. Instead he was shocked when she slumped against him and let out a sigh.

"Jesus Damon" she muttered, before looking up to meet his eyes.

Damon was taken aback yet again, she sounded so tired and her eyes, when they met his, were sad.

"Look, just for this one time, can you just get in the shower and not argue, I'll even promise to keep my hands to myself. Please Damon, I don't need Stefan or Elena knowing I'm here just yet, and I really need to talk to you, about a lot of things."

Meeting her stare sceptically, he raised a brow.

"What things, and I would have thought you'd love it if Stefan got an earfull of you with his big brother. What the hell is going on?"

Stepping backwards Katherine tugged insistently at his arm, her attempt to draw him after her strangely gentle.

Damon found himself struggling with conflicting desires. 

On one hand, he was tired, pissed off and didn't trust Katherine, as far as Stefan could throw her. But on the other, he was tired, pissed off and horny, and he had never seen this Katherine before. In truth, he was just plain curious to see where this was going, and if he was being honest, he was really up for some hate sex, right about now.

"Fine Kat, but this better be good."

She smiled and bit her lip, her look was mischievous as she pulled him against her body.  
"I'd say when wasn't it, but in the mood you're in I'd probably get a list." She grinned at his snort and reached for the shower gel.

"So Damon, You sure you don't wanna wash my back?"

She batted her lashes at him and Damon decided that the night had just gotten as surreal as he could take.

Sighing, he gave in and took the gel. Pouring a generous measure into his hand he rubbed them together and proceeded to stroke his hands down her back. Slowly and with skill he had perfected in a thousand similar situations, he massaged and caressed her skin. From the nape of her neck, down to the sweet curve of her ass, he used his fingers to lull her into a state of near torpor. 

Unfortunately, as much as he told himself his actions were all about getting information out of her, his body had other ideas.

He groaned as he felt his erection nudging her ass, and it didn't help when she let out a similar groan and ground her ass back against his cock.

She was wet and warm and she smelled like jasmine and blood; two of his favourite scents. Her skin felt like satin under his hands and her body, in the fog of the shower, was a twin to the woman he loved. So it was hardly surprising, that when she let out another moan and shimmied even closer, something in him finally snapped.

With a low growl, he pushed her against the tile of the shower wall and bit down with blunt teeth on her shoulder. She let out a sharp gasp and Damon felt himself slip over the edge of no return.  
Snarling with need; he bent her forward. Trusting that she would get the idea, he pushed her legs apart and nudged his cock into position at her entrance. Pausing to take in the sight of Katherine, spread eagled and quivering with want, he couldn't resist taunting her, just a little.

"Tell me Katherine, do you want this? Do you want my cock inside you?" he thrust the head of his dick up a little higher, so it brushed against her clit and ran his mouth along the column of her neck.

"C'mon baby... tell me what you want, tell me how hard you want me to fuck you." he coaxed. Running his fangs down her throat with the barest amount of pressure, he rotated his hips with the intent of teasing some sort of admittance out of her.

Her reaction was everything he hoped, and he couldn't stop the smug little grin that settled on his mouth.

Katherine Pierce might have had sweet little Damon Salvatore, but she'd never had Damon the vampire. For over a hundred years, he'd indulged every carnal appetite he'd ever thought about and then some. That alone, would have insured he knew his way around a woman's' body, but Damon Salvatore was a perfectionist in all things, pleasuring women being the top of his list. He prided himself on the fact that he never had to use compulsion to get sex from a girl. And up till he'd met Elena Gilbert, he'd never had a woman turn him down, at least not one that he really wanted. And now, judging by the moans coming from Katherine, it didn't look like he'd be sleeping alone tonight, either.

Katherine couldn't get over the fact that she was on the verge of having sex with Damon Salvatore and she wasn't the one in control. Physically or emotionally.

The Damon she remembered, had been sweet and honest in his feelings for her and considering his relative inexperience, surprisingly pleasing in the bedroom. This Damon was no longer sweet, but he was still honest and even if that honesty hurt her more than she cared to admit, at least she'd always known where she stood with him. 

But the vampire, that currently held her pinned and panting against the shower wall, this man was very very different from the sweet lover she remembered. Fuck! If she hadn't been sure before, she was now. Damon Salvatore had grown up and turned into everything she'd ever wanted in a lover and she'd been a fool to play him like she had.

Holy fuck, if her stupid little doppelganger knew what she had turned down, she be kicking herself about now. 

He hadn't even entered her yet and she was on the verge of coming, from just his voice and his teasing touch. God, what would it be like to be loved by Damon. To have all this attention and focus turned towards making the one he loved happy. Jesus, it didn't bear thinking about. If this is what it was like being with him when he didn't care, then she couldn't imagine what it would be like, if he still loved her.

Elena Gilbert was a very stupid little girl, and by the time Katherine was through with her, she was going to know just how stupid. 

In the seconds it had taken for her thoughts to crystallize, Damon had moved his hands into play, and Katherine couldn't hold back any longer. 

As one hand flicked and stroked her nipple and the other teased her clit, she felt herself toppling towards orgasm and subsequently shrieking her pleasure loud enough for the whole house to hear, even without vampire hearing.

"Fuck Yes Damon! Oh God... fuck me baby fuck me." she yelled, all thoughts of being discovered leaving her head. 

Damon complied and her eyes rolled back in her head.

He plunged in hard and deep, only to withdraw and do it again. Each stroke was a little faster, as he murmured in her ear about how tight and wet she was and how he was going to fuck her so hard, that she wouldn't be able to sit down for hours. 

"Please Damon God, feels so good. Harder baby harder. Oh yeah like that." she begged, her mind reeling with pleasure.

"Fuck Damon oh god oh god oh god." she panted, her body convulsing in ecstasy. "OHHH Damon" she wailed "Please don't stop, fucking feels so good." 

She was on her second orgasm when Damon sank his fangs into her throat and started to drink. Her body convulsed in pleasure and before she knew what was happening, she was coming again, nearly on top of the last. 

Damon felt her clench around him for the third time and carefully withdrew his teeth from her throat. Lathing the bite with his tongue, he transferred both hands to her hips and started to pound into her mercilessly. Each hard long stroke brought him closer and closer to completion, but just before he moved past the point of no return, he shifted his left hand back down to her clit and started to stroke. 

When he felt her begin to tighten around his cock again, he draped himself along her back and stilled. 

"Come for me." he ordered. 

Katherine shouted his name and fell over the edge for the fourth time, and Damon finally let himself loose. 

He pulled back and slammed into her brutally; in a way that only another vampire could take, five more strokes was all it took and he was coming like he hadn't since Rose.

"Fuck yeah.... That's it Kat." he yelled. 

"Oh God Damon, Fuck I love you." she screamed as she bucked beneath him.

Katherine's last thought just before she blacked out was "Oh Crap, he's gonna fucking kill me." and then she slipped into unconsciousness and knew no more.


	2. Bridges Mended

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be kind and leave a review. Do you want Delena? or should Katherine end up with Damon?  
> Let me know... the ending is up to the readers.

Chapter Two

Bridges Mended

 

 

Elena hadn't been at the boarding house for very long, when she heard Damon returning from wherever he'd been, after dropping her off at her house.

She hadn't actually intended staying with Stefan at all, but he'd seemed so eager to have her with him, she just didn't have the heart to say no.

She'd been on her way downstairs to get herself a snack, when she'd heard the front door close. She had frozen on the landing momentarily, before fleeing back up stairs with a less than dignified burst of vampire speed.

She just couldn't face seeing him again tonight, not after everything that had happened.

Every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing the anger and the disappointment on his face. Those, she could of handled, she was used to him looking at her like that since she'd become a vampire. What she couldn't handle, was the expression she'd seen on his face as Stefan closed her front door. It was defeat, tinged with the one thing that she'd never expected to see in Damon's expressive eyes ever, blatant painful surrender.

Damon Salvatore, had finally given up on Elena Gilbert and she was terrified by what it might mean. More than that, she was just plain scared to death over what it said about his feelings for her; how it made her feel to realize they could change.

She hated being a vampire, but her secret truth was that she hated it a lot less, when she was with Damon.

Damon, made her feel nearly normal, he didn't make her feel like a monster, or someone less than who she'd been. And that scared her far more than anything else had, since becoming a vampire.

She'd told him earlier, that she didn't want to be like him and it was true to a certain point. She wanted to be the Elena that everyone else knew, not the passionate and fiery creature that Damon drew out of her.

She'd always been a different person with Damon, and that was before she had died. The person that only Damon had glimpses of, at least since her parents had been killed.

The girl from before, the one that had partied and laughed; that had been instantly attracted to a mysterious stranger she'd met on a lonely stretch of highway. That girl was gone and she had to stay gone; that girl got people killed and broke boys hearts. She didn't want to be that girl.

Stefan never brought out that girl; not even when she was human. He was thoughtful and caring and considered things from all angles, before acting. He would never let her lose control and forget herself, he would always be there as a reminder, that being the way she was before her parents death, was not who she should be.

Damon made her reckless and wild, he was passion and adventure and danger, everything a good girl shouldn't (couldn't) want.

So, If his feelings were changing, then that was good. It would be better for everyone, if he just stopped loving her. She'd chosen Stefan, and Stefan was who she loved. It would always be Stefan.

But then; why did her heart ache, when she remembered the look in Damon's eyes.

And why had her heart sung with some unnamed emotion, when he'd flung his angry words at Bonnie.

Stefan was asleep when she re-entered his room and she couldn't help feeling a little pang of relief, that she wouldn't have to face him with so much on her mind. She was sated from her earlier feeding with Damon, but she still felt wired and stretched too thin, as she gently lowered herself onto the bed.

Careful not to disturb her boyfriend, she lay back and tried not to think about tonight, about how good it had felt to have fresh human blood flowing down her throat and how right it had felt to be held in arms, that weren't her boyfriends.

laying there, staring up at the ceiling, she gradually became aware of noises that seemed disturbingly out of place, in the usually quiet house.

When it finally dawned on her what she was hearing she felt her blood rush to her face and her fangs begin to drop.

Damon had a girl in his room. He'd brought home a woman and he was very obviously, not having a problem with broadcasting the fact.

Straining her ears, she could make out the sounds of low moans and groans, and with each gasp she could feel her temper flaring.

Getting up from the bed; still mindful of not disturbing Stefan, she moved towards the door. She tried to tell herself she was pissed because the last girl he'd brought home was that bitch Rebecca and she needed to know if it was her that he was having sex with. It wasn't about Damon, he could sleep with whoever he liked, just as long as it wasn't the fucking cow that had killed her.

Ire rising at her thoughts; she slipped into the hall soundlessly.

How fucking dare he bring that bitch here, to this house. How could he do that to her. How could he sleep with the thing that was responsible for her being a vampire.

Moving down the hall towards Damon's room, she tried to ignore the little voice in the back of her head. The one that was insisting that Damon wouldn't do that to her, not this time. He'd wanted to kill Rebecca himself, there was no way he'd sleep with her again.

Pushing her doubts away, she stopped outside Damon's room.

Hand on the door knob, she was about to burst in and let fly, when she heard something that made her heart skitter in her chest and her blood run cold.

"Fuck yeah... That's it Kat."

"Oh God Damon, Fuck I love you."

Elena's world spun dizzily, as she registered the identity of the voice that could have been her own. Though that particular sentiment, was not one she'd ever expected to hear; not coming out of the mouth of Katherine Pierce. It didn't negate the realization, that Damon was at this moment, fucking Katherine, a woman that he had loved for nearly a century and a half. And what was worse... she wasn't just fucking, she was making love to him. Elena's doppelganger was back and from the sounds of it, she'd finally come to claim what was hers.

Reeling in shock and desperately trying to stifle the tears she could feel building, Elena turned and fled back to Stefan's room.

Closing the door in a panic, she stood for a second, before striding over to the bed and shaking her boyfriend awake.

His startled "What" indicated that she'd probably been less than gentle in her method, but at that moment she couldn't find it in herself to care.

"Katherine's back!" she blurted, not knowing how to say it any other way.

"She's with Damon right now Stefan and you have to stop it."

Stefan blinked and then shook his head.

"Okay, hold up a minute. Katherine is here, now... and she's with Damon. What's she doing with Damon?" he rose from the bed and reached for his jeans.

"Are they fighting Elena? Jesus what's he done now." muttered Stefan, pulling up and fastening his pants.

Elena, barely resisted rolling her eyes at her boyfriends obtuse attitude.

"No, he's not fighting with her, but you have to go down there and tell the bitch to leave. I don't want her here Stefan, she's trouble and Damon has already been through enough at her hands. She doesn't get to come back here and play with his head like that." she exclaimed heatedly.

Stefan's eyes widened fractionally, but it didn't stop him from striding to the door.

"You better stay here Elena, Katherine is still stronger and older than all of us and with the mood you're in, I don't relish refereeing any supernatural catfights." he smiled gently to take the sting out of his words.

"I'll go down and see what's going on and I'll be right back."

The moment the door closed Elena started to pace.

Oh God, Damon was sleeping with Katherine. How could he touch that woman, after everything she had done to him, to all of them.

How had this happened? Not more than three hours ago he'd been dancing with her, hugging her and now he was in bed with his ex girlfriend. The woman that looked like her twin. He'd yelled her name and Katherine had been very vocal in the fact; that apparently for her at least, it was no longer all about Stefan.

She wanted to believe it was a trick, a game on Katherine's part, but as much as she wished that was true, she knew it wasn't, because she knew that voice like her own. There was no way Katherine was faking what she felt, not when she'd screamed out her love, not with that much feeling in her declaration.

Why did she have to choose now to come back, Damon was at his most vulnerable and it was her fault. If she hadn't pushed him away so hard, he might not have given in to Katherine, he hadn't before.

Elena's hands came up to cover her mouth, as it hit her all at once.

She'd done this... she'd pushed Damon into Katherine's arms and now she'd probably lost him for good. Katherine was everything he wanted in a vampire, she was brave and ruthless, cunning and strong. She'd never be ashamed of what she was, and she would definitely, never be ashamed of wanting someone like Damon.

She may look like Elena, but if Katherine really loved him like Elena believed she did, she'd never treat him the way Elena had. Katherine was a bitch, but she was honest about what she wanted and if it was Damon she'd finally decided on, then there would be no games this time around. This time she'd be playing for keeps.

Katherine Pierce would take Damon and leave Mystic Falls and Elena would never see him again. Never feel his arms around her, never see his beautiful eyes look at her with the love that he'd reserved only for her. All of that would belong to Katherine. All because Elena had been too blind to see what was right in front of her, the whole time.

She was going to lose Damon and she had only herself to blame.

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

Stefan approached Damon's room, warily. It had been a long and tiring day. Between Klaus, Rebecca and the hunter, he'd had just about enough. And now with the secret he was keeping, all he'd wanted to do was to go home and curl up, with Elena safely in his arms.

He'd thought about telling her what Klaus and Rebecca had revealed, but he didn't want to get her hopes up about a possible cure, in case the trail turned out to be a dead end.

No, he'd wait and see what Klaus had found when he came back from his trip and in the mean time, he'd planned on spending some time with his girlfriend, just reconnecting and getting them back on track.

Now, it looked like he had Katherine to worry about; something he really didn't need and a person he'd hoped not to see again, for a very long time.

Poor Damon, he'd already been devastated by Elena's decision and now here was Katherine; back to remind him of yet another woman that had chosen his brother. Not that Stefan cared that Katherine had picked him, it was Elena he loved, after all. Nothing Katherine could do or say, would change that.

He sighed heavily.

Oh well, they can't have done too much damage to each other, he hadn't heard anything breaking, maybe she'd left already. Still, he'd better check on his brother. Elena would give him hell, if Katherine had done something to Damon, that Stefan could have prevented.

Opening the door quietly, Stefan squared his shoulders prepared to see the worst; a furious Damon and a confrontational Katherine. Hoping for the best, he entered the room and immediately froze in place.

There; in his ridiculously large bed, lay Damon. And in his arms; a soft and content smile on her face, Katherine Pierce, slept the sleep of the innocent, or in her case; the truly sated.

Stefan; the moment his brain registered what his eyes were telling him, experienced a number of very uncomfortable and totally unexpected emotions. First, was a startling sense of rage and jealousy as the scent of blood and sex hit his nose. Then, a rending pain in the region of his heart, as he watched the woman who'd made them both, sleep so peacefully in Damon's arms. This was followed closely by despair; as he realized that Katherine had come back and this time it wasn't for him. And last but by far the least; the horrified realization, that he'd really fucked things up this time. He was going to lose Damon to Katherine and worse than that, he might have lost Katherine forever this time.

Damon must have sensed his presence, because the next time Stefan looked directly at his brother, his eyes were open.

"What happened to knocking?" snarked Damon. "I could have been indecent".

He lifted the covers up, giving Stefan a brief flash of Katherine's alabaster skin, before dropping them with a snicker.

"Oh right... I am". He shrugged and smirked. "Sorry little Brother, did you want something?' he asked, his tone suggestive, as he ran his hand down the curve of Katherine's back.

Stefan gritted his teeth and glared.

"What the hell Damon. Why is she here and why the fuck are you in bed with her?"

Damon just rolled his eyes.

"Well it's like this baby bro, when a mummy vampire and a daddy vampire love each other very very much..."

"Cut the crap Damon." exploded Stefan, his anger barely contained.

"What do you think you are doing... She doesn't love you; you know that. She's just come back to screw with your head and you're going to let her, aren't you?"

Stefan snarled at the look on Damon's face. And his next words nearly pushed Stefan to real violence.

"Hmmm, she's screwing with something alright, but I'm pretty sure it's not my head, at least not the one you're thinking of." Damon winked, but his eyes were colder than Stefan could ever remember seeing them, and it was those eyes that stopped Stefan from losing his temper completely.

Reining his temper in, Stefan got himself under control.

Attempting to be calm and reasonable, Stefan extended an arm conciliatorily and gestured towards the woman in his brothers bed.

"Come on Damon, you know she's only doing this to try and get to me. If she stays here, it's Elena that will suffer, and I know you don't want that."

Damon's eyes; if possible, got even harder.

"Well Fuck you Stefan. I really don't care what you think. So why don't you run back to your little vampire girlfriend and leave us grown up vampires alone. Katherine hasn't told me why she's back yet, but until she tells me differently, I'm choosing to believe she's here for me. Actually little brother, it might interest you to know that she didn't want you knowing she was here. And it sure as hell wasn't your name she was screaming right before she passed out. So get the fuck out before I make you."

Stefan snarled and started to move towards the bed.

Damon tensed, on the verge of getting up to meet him half way, he stilled when the woman in his arms let out a large and exasperated sigh.

"For fuck's sake! Can't a girl bask in the afterglow for longer than five minutes, without you two having one of your spats?"

Pulling herself up and tucking the covers under her arms, she moved back into Damon's arms, and unashamedly snuggled.

Damon's arm came around her and she turned her face up to study his expression. Seeing the wary look in his eyes, she felt a sudden and furious burst of anger towards Stefan and herself; she acted accordingly. Reaching up, she cupped her hand at the back of his head and pulled him in for a surprisingly sweet and lingering kiss.

It was of course, at that moment, that Elena decided that rather than waiting for Stefan to fill her in, she needed to see what was happening for herself.

And that's why, when Damon opened his eyes to look at his brother, he met the devastated stare of Elena Gilbert, instead.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three  
Free Floating.

 

 

 

Elena froze and clutched Stefan's arm. Her heart stuttered in her chest, as she took in the tender look on Damon's face. Tenderness that for once , was not for her.

Of course, the look changed rapidly as he met her eyes.

Her heart sank, as he seemed to dismiss her presence without even a flicker of emotion before turning his gaze back to his brother.

"Jesus Stefan, why don't you sell tickets. It's like grand central station in here. Are Blondie and Judgy gonna come bursting in too, or is this some new couple bonding thing you two have going?"

Katherine snickered and Damon couldn't help giving her an affectionate little squeeze. He didn't know what the fuck was going on in her head, but at the moment, he was just grateful that she appeared to be on his side.

Stefan remained oblivious to his girlfriends presence, he hadn't taken his eyes off Katherine and Damon since they had ended their kiss.

He felt like he'd been dropped into some weird alternate reality.

What the hell was going on, why was Katherine acting like this? She'd told him that she loved him; that it was him that she'd always wanted, so what sort of game was she playing with Damon and why.

"Okay Katherine you've had your fun. How about we all go downstairs and talk. You can tell me why you really came back and maybe Damon and I can help." He met her gaze expectantly; sure that at any moment, she'd toss Damon one of her pitying looks and confess her real reasons for being here.

Stefan was about to be very disappointed.

"God Stefan! Were you always this much of an asshole, or have you just had a lot of practice while I was gone." Her voice was sweet, but her expression was openly contemptuous , as she met her former lovers eyes.

Reaching down she found Damon's hand and clasped it in her own.

Okay Kat, time to finally tell the truth and nothing but the truth, she thought, with a grimace.

Determination settled on her features, even as she tried to rein in her worry about everyone's reactions to what she was about to reveal, especially Damon's.

Stefan meanwhile, felt his jaw tick in reaction to her words, but before he could say anything in his defense, Katherine started speaking again.

"First up, just let me say... I can't believe you two fell for the bull I fed you the last time I was in town. Even Elena realized that Damon meant more to me than I let on, and she was a fucking human." she rolled her eyes at Elena's snarl.

"Settle down there little girl, I'm a pretty comfortable at the moment, but that won't stop me from snapping your neck and leaving you in the tub while the grownups talk. I have some things to say and you're all going to hear them, though I had planned on getting a lot more reacquainted with my man, before I saw you two."

She flashed Damon a smirk, and put her fingers over his mouth before he had the chance to react to her words.

"Okay, Damon, here it is..." She took a deep breath.

"First, I want to apologize to you for lying to you. I told you it was Stefan that I loved ,not you and it wasn't true. I love you Damon, it was always you." She didn't even bother to look in Stefan's direction as she spoke, and not even Elena's sharp gasp pulled her eyes away from Damon's.

"The truth is...The only reason, your brother even had vampire blood in his system when he died, was that I knew how much you cared about him and I knew you were going to need those ties after I left . And before you start rolling your eyes and scoffing, just let me explain."

When he frowned in annoyance at her words, she waited a beat before continuing. She needed him to listen. Their whole future depended on it.

"When I first came to Mystic Falls in 1864, I was on the run from Klaus, which you now know. What you don't know, is that Elijah had people watching me constantly and that he had decided, that it was a far more fitting punishment for me to never have, what he couldn't have from me. I did care about him in my own way, but I didn't love him and he never forgave me for that. Anyway, after I betrayed Klaus and got myself turned, Elijah couldn't bring himself to kill me, or turn me over to Klaus. Unfortunately, he also decided that if he couldn't have my heart, then no one else would."

Katherine bowed her head for a moment before continuing.

"Before I came to Mystic Falls, he had already killed at least three of my lovers." she looked up and met Damon's eyes again. "So when I met you I knew that feeling anything for you, would mean signing your death warrant." She sighed and turned to face the other two vampires.

Stefan looked stunned and Elena looked equal parts horrified and upset.

"Damon doesn't know this, but the first time I laid eyes on him, I knew he was the one I wanted to spend my eternity with. And yes, I had already met Stefan, but honestly... he was a child compared to Damon. Sleeping with Stefan was wrong, but it was also the only way I could have Damon".

She glared at Stefan as he snorted his disbelief. Squeezing Damon's hand in warning, she shot him a pleading look before continuing.

"You see, I knew from experience that Elijah would assume I was only toying with them if I seemed to be playing with both. He'd never minded me taking my pleasure where I could... it was only my emotional attachments that he objected to."

Her chuckle was bitter and her eyes were sad as she remembered.

"In any case, by the time I moved to mystic Falls, I'd learned to either avoid, or at least mask any true emotion I might have for my bed partners. And the best way to do that, was to have more than one". She reached up and stroked Damon's cheek.

"God Damon, if you had known just how terrified I was that Elijah would find out that I loved you... you would have run a mile. I had to put on the act of my life to keep it from him, not even Emily knew the truth; though I think she may have suspected, just before the end. Anyhow... after I faked my death and disappeared, I spent the next Seventy six years trying to find a way for us to be together. But every lead I ran down, every scenario I tried, all would have ended up with you dead. And there was also the little fact that I was still hiding from Klaus. Of course I realized eventually, that Elijah must have been keeping track of me through my witches, but that wasn't until years after Emily's death.

Her eyes were lost in the past, thinking of all the times she'd thought she was safe, when really, Elijah had been only a step away.

"I hated what I did to you, back then. Letting you think that I had been playing with you both was horrible and not being able to tell you I was alive was worse. And then the comet came and Emily's stupid spell pulled you back to Mystic Falls and I knew it was only a matter of time before you found out I was alive."

Damon was glad he was lying down. If he hadn't been, it could have gotten embarrassing. Katherine's out of the blue confessions had left him speechless and confused. And judging by the look on his brothers face; just as stunned as Stefan. Strangely, Elena looked upset; which he'd ponder later, when he wasn't on the verge of either laughing his ass off, or crying like a big girl.

Stefan pulled his arm from Elena's grasp and advanced on the couple in the bed.

"Okay then, If you love Damon so much, then why the fuck tell me it was all about me. Why push him away and tell him you loved me, why try to get me to sleep with you every chance you got, and what was all that in the tomb?"

His lip curled back in a sneer.

"C'mon Katherine, explain to me why you didn't tell him the dagger would kill him if he staked Elijah. Why fuck with his head so publicly and so cruelly if he was the one you really loved. You could have just blown into town and swept him off his feet. it's not like he wouldn't have forgiven you. He's Damon after all. He was always your sad pathetic puppy dog, I'm sure it wouldn't have taken much on your part to convince him."

Damon cringed internally and waited for her reply, as curious to hear her explanation as Stefan, but determined not to let anything show.

Unexpectedly it was Elena that spoke up.

"Stefan! Stop it, how could you talk about your brother like that. Katherine's right, you're being an asshole. Damon wouldn't have done that, he loves you and he wouldn't have left you to deal with the shit that was going on, not just to get back together with Katherine. How could you even think that?"

It was a toss up who was more shocked by Elena's defense, Stefan or Damon. Katherine was the only one not at all surprised. After all, she knew intimately how hard it was not to care about Damon Salvatore, never mind loving him. And Elena Gilbert might be the champion of the world when it came to denial, but even Katherine could admit that when it came to loyalty and honesty where her family and loved ones were concerned, Elena didn't pull any punches.

She chuckled and nodded approvingly at her doppelganger.

"She's right, not that I owe you any explanation Stefan; because I believe I made it crystal clear that this is definitely Not about you. But I do owe your brother one."

She turned to face Damon, regret clear in her gaze.

"I acted the way I did for two reasons. The most obvious being; that as long as Elijah thought I was pinning for your brother and dismissive of you he would leave you alive. So that meant everyone had to believe it was Stefan that I wanted and that meant selling it to you both. If Elijah had doubted for even a moment, he would have compelled the truth from one or both of you, so it had to be convincing. Everything I said, all the crap I fed Stefan when we were locked in the tomb, all of it was to make sure you would be safe."

Her expression was pleading as she continued to speak.

"Don't you see Damon, Elijah was fine with me loving Stefan, it was just another form of punishment for not being able to love him. He knew Stefan didn't want me, that as long as he had Elena he would never admit to loving me. And that kept Stefan safe. My loving you had to be unthinkable to ensure your survival." She shot a glance at Elena. "It's ironic, that the only person who came close to seeing the truth, was both my doppelganger and my rival."

Her eyes were harder as she met his again.

"And that fact relates directly to the second if I'm being honest. I was a complete bitch to you, probably more than was needed because I was hurt and jealous." she scowled at him fiercely her eyes flashing with anger as she spoke.

"I was back in town for barely a minute and the man I loved was kissing me because he thought I was someone else. I'd planned and plotted and suffered a hundred and forty five years; dreaming of the day when I'd be free of Klaus and Elijah so I could be with him and he'd fallen in love with my fucking doppelganger. I'm a vampire Damon, and a selfish one at that, I was fucking pissed and wanted to hurt you, okay."

She turned her head away, the emotion of her confession overwhelming her. When she looked back up her eyes were blood filled, the telltale veins around her eyes prominent.

"I knew, as soon as you kissed me that night, that I'd lost you. I knew that nothing I could say or do would make any difference. I'd waited too long, been to cautious, hurt you too much. You loved Elena and I was probably going to watch you get killed, trying, to protect her. And It didn't help that I had Isobel saying I told you so, either."

She visibly tried to get control of her anger, as she looked away from the man who was still holding her.

"As for the dagger, I made a stupid mistake. I didn't think Damon would be the one to use it. Especially not after I was the one who told him about it. I thought it would be one of the humans, or even Stefan. I never expected Damon to do it. I figured he be suspicious of my motives and that he'd know Elijah would be on his guard around him of all people. I'll admit I screwed up, but to be fair, I was still pretty fucking mad over the whole Elena thing."

She looked at Damon apologetically her expression softening.

"I really didn't want you to die. And that stuff I said to you that night at the house, when you offered to just up and leave if I said I loved you... Well Elena knows you better than you think. You might have convinced yourself that you could go, just pick up where we left off, but I knew differently Damon. You loved both of them too much to do that to them and if you had come with me, you would have ended up hating me for it. So I lied to your face, because I was hurt and because I still wasn't free to be with you. I convinced myself that it didn't matter, that the only important thing was getting the moonstone and handing it over so I could be free."

Her eyes shone with tears and emotion as she stared up into his face.

"I'd loved you so much and everything I'd done up to that point had been about having a life with you. But I didn't want to be your second choice, so I convinced myself that it was best for all of us, if I stuck to the plan and let you go on thinking that I didn't care."

She blinked away the tears that had formed in her eyes. The emotions stirred up by her confession threatening to overwhelm her again.

"I've spent so many years wearing the mask, that sometimes I forget the reasons I put it on in the first place; sometimes even I give in and switch it all off. I've had to, to survive as long as I have. But right here and right now I'm throwing all the masks away and begging you Damon. Please please forgive me. I love you, it's always been you from that first moment, and it will probably be you until the day someone stakes me." She reached up and cupped his cheek with one hand, her thumb stroking his cheekbone caressingly.

"I'm not asking for you to love me again, not right now, I'm just asking for you to give this thing between us a chance. I've spoken to Elijah and he's changed Damon. What Klaus did to him and his siblings has made him see things differently. He knows I love you and he's agreed to leave us alone." she smiled at him, hope and love clear in her eyes.

"Even if he hadn't, I think I still would have risked it. I've been alone so long and missed you so much and after seeing you again with Elena and seeing what you do for those you love, I knew I couldn't wait any more. I had to tell you, you had to know... even if it is too late. Please, I have to know, can we try again, is it really too late for us?"

Before Damon could even form a response to Katherine's bombshell; not that he had any idea how to respond, he was interrupted by Stefan's mocking laughter.

"Unfuckingbelievable. So everything you said to me was a lie? All of this was for Damon. Yeah right, Katherine. How fucking stupid do you think we are. I don' t know what you're up to, or what you really want but I don't believe a word of it. You're just tryi..."

"SHUT UP." Elena yelled rushing forward and grabbing her boyfriends arm. Yanking him around to face her she shoved him with both hands. He flew back into the wall and barely managed to stay standing.

"Stop Stefan, just stop! I believe every word she said. Katherine is telling you the truth and you really are a freaking idiot if you can't see it. I can see how much she loves him. Just look in her eyes... a blind man could see it."

Her eyes met Katherine's in total understanding before focusing again on Stefan.

"She's being honest for the first time ever and you will not take this away from your brother. This is about him, not you. Look at her, really look at her. " "My God, she's just like him."Elena gasped, trying not to give in to her own despair

"She's been and done what she needed to be, to protect what she loves, and you really can't stand that Damon is the one she's done it for, can you?"she spat out.

Her fists were clenched at her sides and her eyes were black with anger as she met Stefan's shocked expression.

"I love you Stefan but sometimes I really don't like you very much. And-and you know what." her eyes darted to Katherine's, before returning to his.

"Since it seems to be the day for clearing the air and being honest, I'm gonna get with the program. She took a deep breath.

"I do love you, but after seeing Katherine and hearing what she had to say, it made me face things I didn't want to face. I may still love you, but I am not in love with you... not anymore, and I'm pretty sure you aren't in love with me, either."

She held her hand up as he looked like speaking . "No, I'm not finished talking, just shut up for once and actually listen to me." she ordered.

"You wanna know why I believe Katherine, how I know she's telling the truth Stefan? I believe her, because I recognize that look in her eyes, it's the same look I have, whenever I look in the mirror after I've been with Damon." She shot out a short bitter laugh and shook her head.

"And the final irony of this whole thing is, that it took seeing it on her face, for me to finally recognize what I've been too afraid to admit, because I'm a fucking stupid coward. I've messed everything up... and you know what." she shook her head wonderingly.

"Ultimately, It doesn't matter. I Love Damon and it's because I love him, that I can't be selfish, I don't deserve him... but maybe Katherine does, and that's the simple truth." She bit her lip and forced back the tears, determined to get through this without breaking down in front of them all.

" Now, you and I," her fingers circled his wrist and squeezed in warning " are going to leave these two alone to work out things out, because both of us, have hurt him way too much and we owe it to him to respect his space and his decisions. And you will not interfere, in any way. Do you understand me Stefan? "

She stared hard at him, before turning and facing Damon's stunned expression; knowing that he would have recognized the echo of his own words in hers.

"I'm so sorry Damon, you really do deserve everything you ever wanted, and I'm so happy that you are finally going to get it. Stefan loves you and after he's done being an enormous ass, I'm sure he'll come and apologize, so don't be too mad at him. You and I have spent so much time making it about him, protecting him from himself and then from the way I felt about you, that it's gonna take him a little adjustment. He'll get used to it, because you're his brother and you deserve to be happy, and no matter what he thinks he wants right now, deep down where it counts he loves you."

She raised her chin, squared her shoulders and did the only thing she could do... with her next words she let Damon go.

"So we're gonna go now and I'll see you in a few days, or I won't, I'll leave that up to you. And if you do decide to leave without saying goodbye. I'll understand. As long as you are safe and happy, that's all that counts, okay."

She turned to Katherine and locked eyes with her.

"Look after him for us, will you. And try to resist the temptation to kill him. I'd hate to have to track you down and stake you because you offed him in a moment of temper." She smiled wistfully. "Just be good to each other and promise me you'll bring him back to visit sometime. I'm glad you love him Katherine... I'm glad he has someone who loves him that much. Don't let him screw it up." she said fiercely.

"Come on Stefan." she ordered, opening the door. "Let's leave the two of them alone."

Glancing back once more as she left the room, Elena did her best not to burst into tears.

"Goodbye Damon... I'll see you... sometime." and with those words she closed the bedroom door behind her and her boyfriend? leaving Damon alone with the only woman, who really deserved his forgiveness.


	4. Endings and Beginnings

Chapter Four  
Endings and Beginnings.

 

As soon as the door was closed, Elena was hit simultaneously by a wave of regret and grief. Oddly enough, it was followed by a very distinct feeling of relief and a sense of weightlessness that was quite unnerving.

She'd done it.

She had finally faced the worst thing she could imagine and she'd managed to do the right thing, without breaking down.

She had; in one fell swoop, admitted both her feelings for Damon and acknowledged that Stefan was no longer her be all and end all. She had faced the fact that what she'd felt was unrealistic; that she'd been clinging to a love that shied away from the things that it might not have stood up against. Both she and Stefan had refused to let go of feelings that should have been left where they belonged, in the past. And now that she had, it felt nothing short of liberating.

Stefan had never really loved the girl inside of her, he'd loved the ideal of Elena that he saw when he looked at her. The one that made him feel human. And that was okay, because she was brave enough to admit, that she'd been just as guilty of the same wilful blindness.

Now if she could get past the fact, that she'd lost the man she loved because she'd been too stubborn to admit to loving him , she might actually be able to get on with her life, such as it was.

Unfortunately, when it came to Damon, getting over him would probably be as difficult as everything else had been in their relationship.

God, she hated Katherine Pierce. Especially since she couldn't really hate her, not after seeing and hearing what she'd seen tonight.

Katherine really loved Damon, it had been Damon all along and every misery in her doppelgangers life all came down to how she felt about him.

Well Damn! she could so relate to that.

What a little idiot I've been; how did I not see that Stefan wasn't the one anymore.

And speaking of Stefan. Tonight had been an eye opener in more ways than one.

She sighed as she headed towards the parlor and Damon's well stocked bar.

She could practically feel Stefan breathing down her neck and she knew he was most likely organizing his thoughts; undoubtedly lining them up so he could confront her in a calm and rational manner. Stefan didn't do impulsive and passionate, that had always been Damon's shtick.  
Christ, how had she never noticed how different they were. She was more like Damon in that. She sighed and poured herself a drink, she had a feeling she was going to need it... and more.

"Okay Stefan, just spit it out. Say whatevers' on your mind, so I can get the hell out of here before they decide to come down stairs."

She turned to face him and waited. He didn't disappoint.

Both his expression and tone were contrite as he met her gaze.

"I'm sorry about what I said upstairs, I honestly didn't mean to upset you Elena. Damon just makes me crazy and Katherine... well, Katherine I just want to kill. I know how it probably looked" he offered, his eyes darting away nervously, before coming back to rest on her face. "But you know how Katherine just gets to me. Her and her games, they make me so mad and I don't stop to think, I just react. You know that I love you. That I want to be with you, not Katherine." he smiled tenderly and reached for her hand.

Elena sighed, shook her head and pulled her hand away.

She swallowed the contents of her glass in one gulp and then busied her hands pouring herself a second very large drink, before replying.

"Okay... I'm gonna take a leaf out of Damon's playbook and just call bullshit. So, bullshit Stefan. You were jealous and pissed off, because Katherine did to you, what you were quite happy for her to do to your brother. Nothing in that room tonight; was about me, it was all about Katherine. The only thing I can't quite work out, is whether it's because you really never got over her, or if it's because you can't stand to see someone choose Damon over you. Either way Stefan, regardless of what you say you feel for me... we are finished."

Taking a small sip of her drink, she studied the frown on his face as she thought over the events of the past hour and what they meant in the grand scheme of things.

She should just go, wait until she wasn't so emotional to have this conversation. But the bewilderment in her former boyfriends eyes decided her. He really didn't get what had just happened, what he'd tried to do to Damon. So she decided to tell him.

"You know Stefan, It may have taken me a while and it's way too late, but I realized something tonight. Damon is a way better brother to you... than you've ever been to him."

Holding her glass loosely in one hand, her eyes closed as she reached up with the other and rubbed at her forehead. God, why did this have to be so freaking hard.

Less than an hour ago, she'd been dodging Damon and worrying about what she was going to say the next time she saw him. Now, here she was with Stefan and all she could think about was how angry she was that he'd put her in this position. It was so obvious that he didn't love her, not in the way she'd believed, so why hadn't she seen it?  
All the time and tears she'd spent on being his girlfriend and he'd never even loved the real her. She didn't know what Stefan saw when he looked at her, but tonight she'd seen exactly how he felt about Katherine.

Her face softened as she thought of Damon and the way he'd looked at her in the past. The memory of what she'd now lost; dispelling the last of her reservations. She may as well tell Stefan the rest, after all, it was about time that he met the real Elena; the one only Damon had seen.

She took a breath and opened her eyes. Seeing the impatient look on Stefan's face didn't help, so she looked down at her glass instead.

"Okay, I didn't tell you before, because I didn't want you to get upset with me and angry at Damon. But here goes...Damon compelled me, twice. The first time, was the night my parents died... and before you say anything, he could have killed me outright with no repercussions, so don't even go there Stefan." she looked up and glared warningly.

"Instead, he told me he wanted me to get everything I wanted and then had me forget ever meeting him."  
She looked back down at her drink. "

"I realize in hindsight, that his behavior that night was because he must have known you had an interest in me. And yes at first, it did seem like he thought I was Katherine. But he was so quick to accept that I wasn't that he must have already known she had a doppelganger in town. Damon would have made it a priority to find out as much as he could about me, as soon as he knew of my existence. And I'd bet anything you like that he knew all about you watching me as well."

She looked up at his disbelieving murmur and stared pointedly, silently daring him to comment aloud.

"Anyway the second time, was the night after you both came and rescued me from Rose and Elijah. He came by to return my necklace and he did return it, but not before telling me he loved me and that he didn't deserve me... but that you did. Don't you see Stefan, a big part of the reason he compelled me to forget his confession was because he loved you, he didn't want to cause you pain. He..."

"He what Elena?" Stefan cut in, finally unable to stay silent.

"Are you going to tell me he was being noble... how... in what way? You weren't his to give up, you were mine," he scoffed heatedly. "He was just being his usual dramatic self, because he couldn't stand the thought that he'd lost another woman to me. It wasn't because he cared about me, it was because he knew he didn't have a hope in hell with you. And you know that."

He crossed his arms and stared at her, as though daring her to contradict him.

She shrugged and made a rude noise. Wow talk about being arrogant, who the hell did he think he was. She crossed her arms and met his glare with her coldest look.

"Okay Stefan, what you said just then, it was way beyond wrong," she stated, her tone glacial. "Firstly, I am not a piece of property, so you can get that 'mine' stuff right out of your head. Secondly, your brother is a gorgeous guy that had already proved that he cared about me. For pete's sake Stefan, he came with you to rescue me and risked his life to do it. And in case you've forgotten, he was the one that actually staked Elijah with that coat rack." She shook her head in disgust.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but I was attracted to him from the moment we met and I'll let you in on a little secret, though I'd bet anything you like, that Damon already knows it."

She smiled tiredly as she thought of how smug Damon would be, if he could hear her right now.

"If Damon had been even the tiniest bit less of a dick... I might not have found it quite so easy to convince myself that it was you I wanted. Seriously Stefan, I know he's your brother, but even you have to admit he's ridiculously hot and can be extremely charming when he wants' to be. I might have thought I was in love with you, but I wasn't blind. And I can admit it now, because it doesn't matter anymore.... I was very tempted, way more than even Damon knew. Fortunately for you, he kept doing asshole things that allowed me to rein it in."

She smirked, an expression that Stefan found eerily familiar.

"Anyway all this is water under the bridge. I've blown it with Damon and I'm going to have to live with that, just like you're going to have to accept that you and I are finished."

Her smile turned wistful as she studied Stefan's face.

"I'm a vampire now and I have eternity, so eventually we can probably salvage a friendship out of this, but at the moment, after your performance upstairs..." She brought her glass to her mouth, pausing, a considering expression on her face as she spoke.

"Well, to be honest, I really don't want to see you any time soon. I'm too mad with myself for wasting my time and my feelings on someone that never really got me. Vampire or human. So I'm going to finish," she waggled her drink, "this glass of Damon's favorite very very expensive bourbon and then I'm going home to cry into my pillow."

She shot him a determined look.

"And Stefan, don't even bother trying to change my mind. It's not going to happen. And while we're on the subject of changing minds... Leave your brother and Katherine alone. let him be happy for once and be the man I know you want to be, not the one I saw upstairs."

With those last words she downed the rest of her drink, pecked him on the cheek and left the house with vampire speed.

By the time Stefan's brain caught up with everything she'd said, she was long gone, and even Stefan knew when to admit defeat. At least for now.

Pouring a drink of his own, he turned glass in hand and headed up to his room to do some thinking of his own.

 

Damon was oddly quiet after Stefan and Elena left the bedroom. Katherine knew that everything she'd said had to have come as a shock, but she was crawling out of her skin waiting for him to give her an answer.

Truthfully, he was both confused and angry. He was also shocked and resentful and really really tired. He'd had a very long and emotionally exhausting day and that was before Katherine had turned up.

He knew Katherine was waiting for him to answer her earlier question, but every time he tried to gather his thought's and formulate some semblance of a reply, the unreality of the whole situation kept hitting him.

Less than two hours ago; was it really only two hours? He'd been resigned to the fact that he'd probably be better off if he left Mystic Fall's. He'd known without a doubt in his mind, that Elena would never love him the way he wanted and that staying in town would mean watching her slowly destroy herself, while he stood by helpless to fix things. Unwanted by yet another woman for anything other than the occasional use of extra muscle; Damon had been on the verge of finally calling the town his brother and Elena quits.

Katherine's appearance had thrown him for an unexpected loop. His decision to sleep with her; at first, just another symptom of the rapidly growing self destructive streak that he' seemingly acquired since returning home to the town of his birth.

He'd known from the first moment that he'd given in to his desire, that sleeping with Katherine would only hurt him in the long run and quite possibly even sooner. But she had looked so much like Elena and acted so unlike the Katherine he'd come to hate, that he'd found he didn't have the will to resist. And yeah, maybe a small part of him had needed to just feel wanted; even if it was only for his body. In that moment he could pretend; to himself at least, that Katherine was with him because she really wanted to be.

And now his whole world view had been set on its ass.

The inescapable truth of Damon's existence had and always would be, that he would always come in second to his brother. Desired but never loved, needed but never wanted; that had been his life ever since he realized that Katherine had never been in the tomb. Loving Elena had been just another cross to bear; one that he'd taken up gladly, but without any real hope of her ever being his.

Then Stefan had gone to ask Klaus for that damn cure and it had changed everything.

Suddenly, being around Elena became a necessity that he couldn't avoid and it had only intensified the feelings, ones that he'd been trying on the whole, to ignore. They had grown closer while looking for Stefan and Elena's black and white view of the world had changed, as had her feelings for Damon.

They'd both done their best to ignore them, but inside of Damon something had shifted and he'd found himself cursed with sudden hope. Then after months of uncertainty, frustration and the see saw of; will she won't she, Elena had chosen his brother yet again. And of course, it only made sense in his fucked up existence, that having made the decision she'd go and get herself turned into a vampire and complicate his life all over again.

In his mind he'd been packed and ready; waiting for the inevitable and determined to honor he and his brothers agreement. He should have known that her becoming a vampire would screw it all up. She had needed him, but nothing had really changed, it was still all about Stefan.

Now out of the blue, everything he knew to be fact had turned out to be the complete opposite. Katherine Pierce loved him, she was in love with Him; he was the only one she wanted and she had told his brother as much. And right to his self righteous bunny eating face, at that.

He tried the words out in his head just to see how they'd feel.

Katherine is in love with me, she doesn't want Stefan, she never loved Stefan.

Yeah...well, that's not getting any less weird anyway I look at it.

And then, just to confuse matters even more, Elena had picked tonight to have some sort of epiphany. Though what the fuck that was all about, he hadn't quite worked out yet.

He sighed and closed his eyes wearily.

They opened seconds later when he felt Katherine's tiny hand stroke his chest. Glancing down at the woman that was still nestled in to his side, he was struck by the change in her face. The hard look that she'd always carried was gone, replaced by a look of concern and more than a little trepidation. Then there was the love.

Katherine's eyes shone with it. She was looking at him with an expression he'd only ever seen on Elena's face and then only directed towards his brother. To be honest, it was so unexpected that Damon didn't know what to do with it.

So he leaned down and kissed her.


	5. Fool me Once.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post: S04E04 Katherine is back in town, and she's finally ready to tell the real truth. She's come to claim what is hers and no stupid little vampire doppelganger is going to get in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit nervous about the sex scenes in this one... let me know what you think.

Chapter Five

Fool me once.

 

Katherine sighed as Damon's mouth settled over hers. She knew they should talk, that she had no idea where she really stood with him, that she'd only be opening herself up for more pain if she slept with him again.

 

He knew the truth finally, the sordid pathetic circumstances of her life were now public knowledge. She had no more walls to hide behind and no pride to salvage if he rejected her. Sleeping with him, giving in to the passion and love now that he knew the truth; it was the final surrender in a war she was fated to lose from the first day they'd met. For so long he'd been the goal, the prize behind all of her plans and schemes and until that night on Elena's porch, it had never occurred to her that he might not be there when she was finally ready.

 

When she had fled Mystic falls after delivering Stefan's cure, she had left full of rage and hurt, determined to move on and forget about Damon Salvatore. But that had lasted all of a week before she was throwing herself back into the middle of things. After all, she was Katarina Petrova and a Petrova never gave up.

 

So she'd done what she could. She'd tracked Stefan under the pretext of love and by doing so, had made sure to keep Damon out of it as much as possible. Even running Michael to ground, had more to do with Damon's safety than her own freedom. And through it all, Damon had never wavered in his love for Elena Gilbert. In the end it was that unassailable fact that had made her decide to let him go, at least for the present.

 

Because of course, a human lifetime was nothing to a vampire. She had already been without him for nearly a century and a half. What was another sixty or seventy years to someone who had eternity, she could wait. Eventually her doppelganger would be dead and Damon's heart would be free again. She might even have found another way to get rid of Klaus by then.

 

And then the news reached her; Elena had become a vampire and it had changed everything for Katherine.

 

So she'd slipped back into town and watched from the sidelines. She'd seen the distance forming between Elena and Stefan and her growing reliance and barely veiled need for Damon. She'd also seen the way Elena had still been doing her best to deny it. Tonight's careless cruelty towards him, had made up Katherine's mind.

 

Elena Gilbert was a selfish little idiot, that wouldn't know a good thing if it bit her. And hadn't. Yes, Damon was a sarcastic ruthless bastard, who called a spade a spade, but he'd been doing everything he could to get Elena past her transition and into a place where she could have some sort of balance. And what had he got for his efforts? Scorn insults and the complete disregard of his feelings. It had made Katherine's blood boil and shored up her belief, the certainty, that her little dopplebitch did not deserve him.

 

Katherine decided that it was time to fight. Yes, she could have borne him pining after a human Elena, she after all, had an expiration date. But there was no way she was going to let little Miss Gilbert the vampire, lead him around by the nose. She just would not have it. Damon had been made for her, he was a vampire because she'd willed it and it was time he knew everything.

 

And that's what had brought her to now, to Damon's arms and bed. And left her wondering; how much more of her heart she could risk and still expect to survive?

 

As his lips moved from her mouth to her throat, Katherine was torn with indecision. She had dreamed of this so often over the years. The realization that making love with him surpassed her memories, or any of the many dreams she'd had, was truly eye opening. But could she allow this to happen again, now that he knew that for her it was truly lovemaking and not just sex .

 

His teeth scraped across her throat and she shuddered.

 

Sense memory rippled through her; memories of them in the shower, his fangs and cock buried deep inside her body reawakening her need and dispelling her doubts. The overwhelming desire she felt for him; returning in a rush that left her helpless to resist.

 

Fuck it! I can worry about him loving me tomorrow. Tonight I just want this, I want him.

 

Katherine arched her neck in surrender, both to Damon and to her own desire. The movement was a sensual tease, an invitation and an acceptance both physical and symbolic. Damon might not know she'd given in, but she had. For the first time in she didn't remember how long, she was going to be with a man and hold nothing back. Not passion strength nor joy and most especially, not love.

 

Damon felt Katherine shudder under him, felt her relax and give in to his touch and knew that here would be no more conversation tonight.

 

His mouth on her collarbone; he smiled against her skin. It was nice to know that Katherine at least, was not immune to his skill.

 

Kissing and nipping under her chin, he ran one hand down her throat and across her shoulders; in a teasing promise that his mouth would soon follow.

 

His fingers caressing and relearning each inch of her skin as they moved over her body . He touched her as if blind, exploring every curve and crevice, every line or indentation; her body a map that could only be read and known completely, by taste and touch alone.

 

His tongue darted out to taste the saltines of her skin as his mouth slid across her clavicle, his fingers skimming lightly over one hard nipple before sweeping down to her thigh. The hand lingered there for a moment, before returning to her breast to cup and stroke the underside, his mouth slowly traveling down to join it.

 

Lathing her breast with the flat of his tongue, his lips and teeth teased, never quite making contact with her hardened nipple, before moving on to do the same with her other breast.

 

Katherine gasped, her hands coming up to cradle his head and her back arching as she tried to get closer, urged him to give more. Free hand sliding down the smooth length of her thigh, Damon moved his mouth back to her other breast, teeth nibbling and nipping lightly before lengthening to fangs. Scraping delicately across the tightly budded nipple, he bit down gently but hard enough to draw blood, before closing his mouth over the punctures and suckling.

 

Her hands tightened in his hair as she felt the pull of blood from her breast, an answering twinge in her core making her squirm with fresh need.

 

Releasing her breast Damon shifted and turned so their bodies were head to toe .Placing both hands now on her thighs he stroked lightly and waited for her. When he felt her small hand curl around his cock he bit back a groan. Doing his best to concentrate and push his own need away he bent his head back to her body. Then still using only his fangs, he dragged them lightly across her skin, pausing now and then to leave sharp pinpricks of bright blood, which he hungrily erased with mouth and tongue.

 

Hands on the underside of her thighs, he urged them to open wider as he moved down, his head pillowed on one of her now parted legs.

 

He carefully teased the inside of the other thigh with his deadly teeth, never quite hard enough to break skin and just short of painful, until the scent of her arousal was nearly overwhelming.

 

Retracting his fangs for the moment, he lifted his head and moved to place open mouthed kisses on curls that glistened wetly with her arousal.

 

She bucked up to meet him, obvious in her need for more.

 

Spurred on by that need and his own increasing arousal, he slid his hands around her thighs in a slow teasing caress, his fingers dancing across the wet heat of her centre. Stroking upwards a little more firmly he framed her pussy with his hands, then using both thumbs to part her folds, he deliberately breathed a stream of heated air across her clit.

 

Katherine moaned, her breath ghosting over his cock. Her softly gasped please, sending a shiver of heightened lust arcing through him. When her fingers tightened around his shaft, it took every bit of his experience not to buck into her caress.

 

Using just the tip of his tongue, he traced the edges of her folds, then wetting his fingers with his own saliva he moved one hand slowly and deliberately downwards, applying just enough pressure to tease but not to relieve her desire for more.

 

When both her movement and moans became more desperate he employed both his tongue and lips, gradually spiralling closer to her clit with each lick and gentle suck, his fingers teasing her entrance as he drew closer to his goal.

 

When she moaned his name and thrust up against his face he took pity on them both.

 

Staving off the desire to push his tongue deep inside her so he could taste her properly, he used his fingers to part her folds, licked firmly across her clit and thrust two of them inside her very wet entrance.

 

She lunged up hard against his mouth whimpering and Damon responded by groaning and increasing the pace of his tongue in a fast and fluttering motion, while his fingers moved deep inside her, seeking that place that far too many men overlooked.

 

Flicking his fingers firmly back and forth across her internal bundle of nerves, his tongue still in motion. He fastened his mouth over her aching pussy and sucked more firmly as she began to writhe desperately; soft pleas for release falling from her lips.

 

Her internal muscles tightened around his fingers, her gasps and cries for release becoming louder and he knew she was close.

 

Damon opened his mouth wider, his tongue still busily flicking and stroking as he waited for her to fall over the edge into pleasure. Seconds later when her body began convulsing in the beginnings of her orgasm, Damon brought his fangs out to play.

 

With vampire speed his head darted to the side and he sank his razor sharp fangs into the juncture of her thigh and drank. Replacing his mouth with his thumb as she bucked and shrieked, his fingers thrust harder and faster, his own carefully tempered desire rising as she came apart under his skilled touch.

 

Seconds later he felt her hand tighten on his cock and the unexpected sharp sting of her fangs as she sank them in to his own thigh.

 

Taking small sips of her blood as she in turn drank from him, Damon's head swam with pleasure, her aged and powerful essence filling his head with stars of brightness. Her blood spoke to him of home, of days of love and warmth and nights filled with the passion of the hunt.

 

But underneath those desires , he could also taste her aching loneliness and her fierce need to survive. Her need to be wanted and loved, as much a part of her as her the vampire need to kill and feed.

 

Swallowing her blood; taking it inside himself, Damon tasted Katarina Petrova and knew her truly, for the very first time.

 

She was proud and fierce, cunning and selfish, childlike and cruel, loving and passionate. She was all things all women and her blood called to him like no others ever had. She was lover and sire and he had never known a woman like her.

 

He felt the pull of his own blood leaving his body as Katherine continued to drink from him. Her grip was firm and her thumb teased lazily at the head of his cock, even as her other hand massaged and stroked his balls. Her hand left his balls for a moment only to return wet with the blood and saliva from her mouth. She stroked once across his sack, then cupping his balls firmly in her palm she ran one finger along the crack of his ass, stopping briefly to massage and tease the space between his balls and anus. Then without warning, she pulled hard on his blood, simultaneously plunging a finger deep inside his ass.

 

Damon came with a snarl, the orgasm pulled from his body as the physical act and blood connection swept through him. Seconds later the blood he was drinking from her swirled through his body and his through hers, a never ending circuit that locked them into an experience that neither of them could have imagined. The mingling of their blood, opening pathways into each others deepest and most hidden places.

 

As Damon retracted his fangs and swallowed the last of her blood, he knew that Katherine's words had been as true. She felt for him what she had felt for no other.

 

As her blood settled deep inside him, he knew that she loved him with a reckless possessive passion, a need that bordered on obsession and with a selfishness, that was intrinsically her own.

 

But with the mingling of their blood he also realized something else. He knew as true and as deep as her feelings were, they were only part of a much larger story.

 

Yes, Katherine had been telling the truth, but her earlier words were only part of the true tale. He should have guessed from her reaction and her words to Stefan that there was more than what she'd confessed.

 

When Damon drank from Katherine and all but invited her to drink from him at the same time, he hadn't stopped to think. He'd heard stories and rumors about what it was like to share blood with the one who was of your blood. Cautionary tales, about how sharing blood that near to your own and at the same time, should not be done lightly. But he had no idea what any of it really meant. And now he did.

 

He'd always known that vampire blood was the stuff of magic, that it carried both curse and gift. But now he also knew there was one gift that it gave unwittingly. The gift of truth. Truth, that could be tasted only within the blood bond of sharing, and only between the vampire and the one who they'd turned. Now he knew why most vampires warned against it and some few craved it. Nothing was hidden from those who drank, everything ever experienced was there to be read no matter what.

 

It was no wonder that Sage had been loath to share her knowledge of the act. To admit to being that open with anyone, no matter how much you might love them would be hard enough, but to have shared blood and to have known someone that completely only to lose them... Well at least he now understood her faith in Fin's love for her.

 

God knows he was wishing he could take it back, unknow what he now knew.

 

Because Yes, he knew Katherine had truly loved him, but he also knew she'd wanted his brother just as much. She'd loved them both, wanted them both and had been devastated by their defection to Elena.

 

It was all there in her blood; a story to waiting to be read.

 

Damon; she'd loved because she could see his future as a vampire. A suitable and fierce mate that would hunt by her side, kill for her favor, and adore her until the stars failed. Her vampire nature had recognized his potential the moment she'd laid eyes on him and she had wanted him by her side forever.

 

But it was the girl inside Katherine, the part that was still Katarina Petrova that had loved Stefan. Katarina loved the boy that held her hand and courted her with sweet kisses. The boy that made her believe; if only for a few stolen moments, that she could have back what she'd lost the night she'd run from Klaus. The part of her that mourned her life and her innocence, was also the part that had loved Stefan.

 

Katherine had loved Damon for loving the monster in her, but she'd fallen for Stefan because he had loved what was left of her humanity.

 

And just as he'd tasted these truths in their mingled blood he also tasted the truth behind the missing half of her tale.

 

Katherine Pierce had been compelled to forget ever loving Stefan, she'd been told to only remember her feelings for Damon, to forget the other Salvatore had ever been important to her.

 

And it was Elijah that had had done it. He'd fucked with her mind, deliberately erasing that part of her and sending her to Damon. She'd had half her life story altered and she didn't even know it.

 

As Damon swallowed the last of her blood and the wholly shocking and unexpected truth with it, he was left feeling both furious and confused by Elijah's actions. And utterly at a loss over what he was supposed to do about it.

 

Elijah must have known that there was a possibility that blood sharing might happen at some stage, so he had to know Damon would taste the compulsion. So what the fuck was he up to? Did he think that Damon would turn her down, was that it? Or maybe, Elijah hoped that if he did find out he would be so happy to have a loving and adoring Kat falling at his feet, that he wouldn't care that she'd been compelled. Or it could be it just be that Elijah didn't think that Katherine would allow the sharing?

 

Shit! It could have been any number of reasons. Maybe he just didn't care either way. Elijah was a cold bastard at the best of times, but doing this was beyond cold and Damon was fuming.

 

Playing with Katherine's head was one thing, but to do something like this was cruel, not only to her, but to Damon himself. Sure; Katherine did love him, she had told the truth about that part. She really had loved him from the moment she'd met him, but it wasn't the sort of love that Damon wanted anymore, not since knowing Elena. And now that she'd been compelled to forget all about her feelings for Stefan, even if Damon did want her, it would always be with the knowledge that without compulsion, he'd still be sharing her love.

 

Damn!

 

Obviously, what he needed to do was find Elijah and get him to break the compulsion.

 

He groaned, the after effects of both the blood and his orgasm compromising his ability to think clearly, he needed to come up with a plan but his body just wanted to curl up and sleep. Sadly, his mind seemed to be in agreement, it wasn't relishing leaving the bed to go face down an original and an uncertain outcome.

 

Beside which, there were only two people that knew where Elijah was... Katherine and Rebecca. Unfortunately, he couldn't ask for Rebecca's help. She hated his gut's and would undoubtedly be happy that Katherine no longer wanted Stefan, especially when she learned that Stefan and Elena were currently on the outs . Katherine was out as well, for the obvious reason. And assuming that he even managed to locate the Original, there was also the small task of getting Elijah to undo the compulsion without getting himself staked.

 

He groaned internally, staring blindly at the puncture marks that were the cause of his turmoil his mind swam with regret.

 

Kissing the bite's that he'd left on her inner thigh apologetically, he berated himself for putting both himself and Katherine in this position. If he'd kept his fangs to himself this never would of happened. Damon briefly considered that taking a walk in Mr Sunshine was probably a better option and far less painful than what he was considering.

 

Because of course, that only left one person that had both a chance of finding and convincing Elijah to lift the compulsion. It was also the last person he wanted to get involved. Elena Gilbert was not someone he wanted pity from, not ever.

 

Fucking great! I'm really looking forward to that conversation.

 

And if that wasn't bad enough, in the meantime he had to find a way to extract himself from Katherine's company, without alerting her to what he knew.

 

There was no use telling her the truth if Elijah refused to reverse it and if tonight had done nothing else, it had shown him that Katherine did love him and had wanted him. The fact that she also wanted and loved his brother didn't change that, it only made him understand her a little better. With the added bonus of helping him to finally let his anger at her go. She was what she was, and he'd known that from the night he'd found out she was a vampire, he'd just forgotten it for a while.

 

Besides, he'd been fooling both of them when he let her into his bed, there was nothing she could do or say, no matter how true or well meaning, that would change what he felt.

 

It wouldn't have mattered, if it had been only him. The love he'd once had for Katherine was nothing compared to what he'd felt for Elena. In truth, what he still felt.

 

Whatever hold Katherine had still had on his heart had been lost in a shitty Georgia carpark; lost with his brothers girl standing over his beaten body, begging for his life. He loved Elena; it would always be Elena and not even the woman who had made him a vampire could change that.

 

But he still knew what it felt to be second choice; even if it had turned out not to have been totally true. And regardless of the truth, there was no way he'd ever do that to anyone.

 

Damn Elijah. What the fuck was he thinking?

 

Distracted by his thoughts, Damon was startled when he found himself suddenly and unexpectedly flipped onto his back.

 

As Katherine settled on his thighs, her flat belly brushing his cock with her every movement, Damon was reminded, rather pleasurably, that he'd actually been in the middle of having sex with the woman above him.

 

Giving an internal shrug, he thrust back against her grinding movements, figuring that the quicker he exhausted her, the quicker he'd get to leave.

 

Mind shying away from the thought of Elena and what he'd say to her, especially after her earlier words to him, Damon turned his attention back to Katherine. This was the last time he'd ever be with her if he could get Elijah to reverse the compulsion, so he might as well make the best of it, for both of them.

 

Giving in to his desire for her body, and trying not to imagine it was Elena rather than Katherine. Damon decided that no matter what happened after tonight, he was determined this would be his last night in Mystic Falls.

 

If the worst came to the worst and Elijah refused to reverse it, then Damon would plead with him to wipe her feelings for the second Salvatore as well. It would be far better if Kat didn't love either of them, if neither could return it. And after seeing the truth of her feelings and knowing how it felt to have your love unrequited, he wouldn't wish that on her, or anyone.

 

His thought's fractured, as the warmth of Katherine's tight pussy enveloped his cock. Giving himself over to pleasure, Damon stopped thinking at all.


	6. Shame on Me

Chapter Six

Shame on Me.

 

Elena perched on her window seat and looked blankly out into the night. The cup of hot chocolate she held now cold, as she sat and thought about everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours.

She'd been home for nearly three hours and her brain wouldn't slow down long enough to give her any peace. Two more tumblers of bourbon, a hot shower and the afore mentioned cup of hot chocolate had failed to make any difference to her chaotic thoughts and sleep seemed like an impossibility in her current state.  
Her mind had been running things over and over in her head and the only conclusion she had reached, was that she was probably the biggest idiot in the world not to have seen what should have been obvious. 

It wasn't like the clues weren't all there. She'd just been too blind to see them.

 

Stefan had chosen to save Damon, knowing that he'd most likely never see her again. Then he'd chosen vengeance against Klaus over their being together. And last but by no means least, he'd put her choice to save Matt first, ahead of her life. And even though it was what she had wanted at the time, there was a small part of her that couldn't help wondering how honoring her choices could be more important to him than saving the life of the woman he was supposed to love.

In the end, she'd come to the unavoidable conclusion that his were not the actions of someone who was in love and that she'd been too stupid to recognize that fact before, when it might have made a difference.

But wasn't she just as guilty for burying her head in the sand.

She'd known she was attracted to Damon ever since that night in Georgia. Even with all the horrible and traumatic things he'd done to her since they'd first met, it hadn't changed the quivering feeling she got when she allowed herself to look in his eyes. She'd leant on him, relied on him, cried on his shoulder and trusted Damon to help after Stefan had left with Klaus. And not once, had she been brave enough to ask herself why that was.  
Or why it was still that way all this time later. And if she was honest with herself, it had only gotten worse after she became a vampire. Hence her little feeding date with Damon only last night.

She winced as she remembered her words to him. 

Good one Elena. Is it any wonder that he's in bed with Katherine at this very moment. Hell, she wouldn't blame him if he left without town even saying goodbye. If he did, it would only serve her right.

Staring down at the cup in her hands she sighed and forced her body to move.

 

She was heading towards her bed after placing her cup on the bathroom counter, when she heard the telltale whoosh of sound that heralded a vampire's entrance to her bedroom.

She groaned. "Stefan I thought I told you... " 

Her words trailed off as she turned to face what she thought would be her ex, only to find Damon perched on her window sill.

Damon cocked a brow at her annoyed tone, a half smirk on his face as Elena's eyes widened at this presence.

"Trouble in paradise Elena? Don't tell me you two crazy kids are still fighting." 

"D-Damon, what are you doing here? Where's Katherine?" 

Elena crossed her arms in an unconscious gesture of defense, her heart thumping in her ears as she took in the fact that Damon was in her bedroom and he seemed to be alone. 

He did his eye flirt thing and Elena actually had to clench her fists hard and remind herself that he was Katherine's. She had no right getting all week in the knees, especially when she'd had more than enough opportunities to return both his flirty looks and his feelings.

"Katherine is currently sleeping the sleep of the thoroughly exhausted." 

He smirked and Elena flushed as she caught on to his meaning.

"But my sexual prowess aside," he gestured offhandedly "you and I need to have a little talk and then I'm going to ask you a teeny tiny favor. And if things go the way I want, I can promise you this will be the first and last time I impose upon your good nature to ask for help."

Elena frowned at his words. His demeanor was vintage Damon, careless and cavalier, but his eyes looked tired and his smirk didn't reach them. As a matter of fact, he looked stressed and more than a little worried and it was setting of her Damon alarms. 

"Sure Damon, what do you need." she replied, careful to keep her tone casual. 

"You know if there's anything I can do I'll be happy to help."

 

Damon's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Elena was being way too nice and she hadn't even rolled her eyes once at his sexual innuendo's. What was up with that? 

No, he wasn't going to do this, not again. Elena Gilbert was not his problem and she'd made it more than clear only last night, that she didn't want his concern and would barely tolerate his help. 

So what if she'd seemed different earlier, she wouldn't be the first woman to have a moment over an unwanted suitor. Katherine coming back and Elena finding him in bed with her had to have been a shock. She might not want him herself, not like he wanted her, but it didn't mean she didn't care about him. 

If anything, Elena cared too much for everyone in her life and she was one of the few people that knew the truth about Katherine and the Salvatore brothers. She was just being a friend when she'd stuck up for him tonight, it wasn't even the first time. He just had to remind himself of that and stop assigning importance to actions that were nothing more than those of simple friendship. 

His expression softened as he thought about how she'd defended him against Stefan and he decided then and there that he was going to enjoy the time he had left in her company. Because he was nearly certain, that once he got this mess with Katherine and Elijah cleaned up, he'd be leaving town. 

"Anything Elena? Because I can definitely think of one or two things you could do that would help me a whole lot." He ran his eyes over her suggestively and waited for her usual blush and indignant scolding.

 

Elena swallowed hard. 

God, he really had no idea what he did to her when he looked at her like that. It had been bad enough when she'd still been mostly clueless and it was a thousand times worse, now she knew what she really felt for him. 

And great, now he was looking at her funny because she'd spaced out when she was supposed to be paying attention. Jesus, what did he expect her to say when he acted like that, surely he had to know that things between them were different now. How could he not realize that her feelings for him were pure torture, now that he was back together with Katherine.

Then again, Katherine wasn't here. Damon had left her asleep at the boarding house and here he was in her bedroom getting his flirt on. Well two could play at that game, she thought defiantly. 

Elena glided towards him and placed her hand on his chest. Looking up from under downcast lashes she pouted.

"Maybe you should tell me exactly what it is that you need from me Damon?" she all but purred. "I'm sure I can find a way to accommodate you. After all, I'm pretty sure I owe you a favor or three."

Her fingers casually toying with the buttons on his shirt, she deliberately licked her lips while studying his expression.

Gotcha she thought, watching his eyes dilate and his sudden inhalation of breath, both a dead giveaway that he really hadn't expected her to call his bluff. 

 

Damon was more than shocked, when Elena not only didn't bite at his teasing, but actually turned the tables on him. Her totally unexpected sex kitten act had him hardening in his jeans and left him more confused than he could ever remember. What the hell had gotten into her, she should have been tearing strips off him by now? Instead, she looked like she was more inclined to climb him and take him for a test drive. 

His eyes narrowed as she continued to play with his shirt. 

Vampire Elena made him crazy. 

One minute she was all over him and the next she was treating him like poison, then she defended him and acted like nothing had happened, and that was all in the space of twenty four hours. But this, this was new. This Elena was not one he'd seen before, not with him. To be honest it was throwing him right off his game and after everything that had happened with Katherine, he was far too tired for any sort of game that wasn't his.

Damon decided to do what he did best when it came to Elena, he decided to ignore his rampaging hormones and her mixed signals and get straight to the point.

"Actually since you mentioned it, you're right, you do owe me and tonight's the lucky night I get to collect." He waggled his eyebrows teasingly and continued before she could puzzle out what he'd meant with that comment.

"Right then, I'm not going to bore you with the details of why, but I need you to track down Elijah for me and then I need you to ask him very nicely if he would mind fixing the little problem that he's caused. And don't ask." 

He sighed and rolled his eyes at her startled look. 

"Elijah will know what I'm talking about. And the you not knowing why part...Well we'll just consider it repayment for all those times I saved yours and Stefan's asses and call it even." 

Seeing the glare she was now directing his way, Damon groaned internally. Fuck, she was really pushing all his buttons tonight. Didn't she realize that her glaring at him like that, was more of a turn on than her deliberate come hither act could ever be. 

Shaking off his desire for her, he focused on what he'd come here to do.

"C'mon Elena chop chop. Times a wasting and if I know you like I think I know you, you'll have his cell, his email and quite possibly his social security number." 

Damon chuckled at the look on her face. The sex kitten had been replaced by indignant child, but the pout she threw his way was still adorable.

 

"I don't have his social security number." she muttered crossly "Stupid know it all vampire." She grabbed her phone from her bedside table and after playing with it for less than twenty seconds she met his amused look with one of her own. 

"What do you want me to ask him?" 

 

Damon's mind went blank for a moment, but he quickly shook it off when she waggled her phone impatiently.

"You won't have to ask him anything, just get him to agree to meet... actually, just to be safe, don't even mention me. Tell him you need to see him urgently," he waved his hand at her confused frown "make something up, it doesn't matter what, just get him here asap." 

 

Elena's brow smoothed out, but her expression was still uncertain as she pressed the call pad.

 

After barely three rings, it was picked up and Elijah's cultured voice was asking what he could do for her.

Her mind flailed for a moment, thrown by his quick response.

"Ah hi... Um... sorry to ring you so late, I hope I didn't wake you?" when he replied in the negative and once again asked her why she was calling, Elena caught her lip between her teeth and shot Damon a pleading look.

 

Damon shook his head and shrugged.

 

Scrabbling for something to say, Elena latched on to the only thing that had been on her mind, since she'd burst into Damon's room and found him with Katherine.

"Elijah, did you know Katherine is back in town?"

"Why yes Elena, I did have some idea she might be heading your way. She came to see me a few days ago and mentioned that she would be staying in Mystic Falls for the immediate future. I take it you've seen her?"

"Yes, I've seen her. She was at the boarding house tonight... she was with Damon." 

Elena tried desperately to keep her tone neutral as Damon's attention sharpened with her words. She turned her back on him and continued her discussion. Knowing that Damon would be able to hear both sides of the conversation, she did her best to hide the jealousy in her voice.

"I was wondering if you could come over, I'm worried about Damon and I really need to speak to someone that knows Katherine. I know it's a lot to ask Elijah, but I can't seem to relax knowing she's back."

 

"Ah, I take it our dear Katherine has seen fit to stake her claim then. Hmm, she always was a fast mover when it came to getting what she wants". He mused thoughtfully. 

"But forgive me, I'm being insensitive, I'm sure you are quite frantic over the situation. I'll come at once." He paused and Elena thought he'd hung up for a moment. 

"I'm sorry Elena, I know how hard this must be for you, now that you are a vampire. If it helps any I have it on good authority that Katherine is not intending to interfere with yours and Stefan's relationship. As a matter of fact, she assured me that she was only interested in Damon and that she would be endeavoring to do her best to get him to leave town with her. I hope that has put your mind at rest somewhat, at least until I arrive. I will see you shortly" he finished, ringing off before she could reply.

 

Elena stared at the phone in her hand. Somehow, hearing the words from Elijah's mouth, made her impending loss real, in a way it hadn't been with Katherine. 

She had lost Damon; he was really going to leave and there was nothing she could do about it. 

Her shoulders stiffened, as she tried to fight back the tears that were welling in her eyes. She couldn't let Damon know how Elijah's words had affected her, the last thing she needed from him was his pity.

 

Still facing away from him, she chewed on her lip and tried to master her composure.

"You heard?"

 

Damon frowned. He could see how tightly her shoulders had tensed and her voice sounded brittle and on edge for all its brevity.

"Yeah I heard. How long?"

 

She sighed and slumped slightly at his impersonal tone. Her arms came up to wrap around herself, in an unconsciously defensive move that she had no control over.

"It's Elijah, so anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. He seemed concerned, so probably closer to five." She turned towards him slightly and shot him a quick glance. 

 

His expression was distant, if slightly thoughtful. Elena felt her heart clench in her chest at how far away from her he seemed. Physically, he was only a step or two away, but emotionally? She feared he'd never been further out of her reach than he was at this moment. 

"So how do you want to do this? I know you said it has nothing to do with me and you don't want me involved, Damon. But Elijah is not going to be happy that I got him here under false pretenses. I think it might be better if I hung around to buffer some of his annoyance, at least for the first couple of minutes."

 

Crap! He cursed under his breath. What was he supposed to say to that, she was completely right. He needed Elijah in a receptive mood, not pissed off because they'd played him. But that meant Elena finding out the truth and he wasn't sure he could take the pitying looks, never mind the well meaning commiseration that she would undoubtedly send his way. 

Oh fuck it. It's not like she hadn't seen him at his lowest and most pathetic before. She'd been with him in the tomb the night he'd learned the supposed truth about Katherine. Hell, she'd seen him after he'd staked Rose. This wasn't any worse than those two incidents, it was just another sad chapter in the pathetic life of Damon Salvatore. If he was really lucky he'd probably score another hug out of it at least. 

 

He sighed and met her gaze.

"Right, no making a federal case out of what I'm about to tell you and no soft poor puppy looks either," he warned.

"It seems our friend Elijah, got it in to his head to alter Katherine's mind just a smidge." His thumb and index finger millimeters apart, he squinted at his hand before letting it drop to look at her.

"The long and the short of it, well... she's been compelled to forget a very important part of her past and I need Elijah to undo it."

 

As he finished speaking, he prayed that she wouldn't ask him for details, but looking at her expression and the look in her eyes, he really didn't like his chances of getting off that easily.

Elena's eyes widened with Damon's explanation, her mind going in a hundred different directions, as she thought of all the possibilities.

 

"Are you sure? I can't believe Elijah would do something like that. It doesn't seem like the Elijah I know, not at all. What was it that he compelled her to forget, Damon? I mean how bad could it be?"

 

Damon opened his mouth to answer, but before he could speak another voice interrupted.

 

"Oh, I rather think her compulsion was very far from bad," Elijah drawled from his perch on the window sill. "As a matter of fact I think it was quite selfless, though I must admit it was the last request I'd ever have expected from Katarina. I was actually quite floored that she would be so... Hmm, what's the word I'm looking for. Ah yes, compassionate, or maybe emphatic, yes that seems more fitting somehow."

He smiled and entered the room, coming to stand directly in front of Damon.

 

"I had hoped, this would not come out so quickly of course, but these things happen." He shrugged. "I thought you'd both be pleased by this little development. After all, isn't it what both of you wanted?"

 

Damon stared at Elena and she stared back at him. Both of them would have been surprised to know that their reaction to Elijah's question was very near identical.


	7. Tell Tale Tit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post: S04E04 Katherine is back in town, and she's finally ready to tell the real truth. She's come to claim what is hers and no stupid little vampire doppelganger is going to get in the way.

 

 

Elijah looked from Damon to Elena and back again, his expression one of mild interest and curiosity.

The strained looks and the darting eyes were enough to have him laughing, but only internally. After all, it wouldn't do to give the game away just yet. Pasting on his most polite expression, he quirked a brow inquiringly.

Unsettled by the question that Elijah had just thrown their way, it took Damon a moment or two catch up. But before he could say anything, he was pre-empted by Elena.

"Are you saying that Katherine asked you to perform compulsion on her? That she actually wanted to forget whatever it is, that you erased?" She frowned. "And what did you mean, when you said you thought we'd be pleased?" She shot Damon a suspicious look. "Exactly what was it that she got you to compel away, Elijah?"

Damon rolled his eyes skyward, before attempting to head off what he knew, would end up being a complete clusterfuck.

"Never mind about us, I want to know why she asked you to do it at all and what she actually said?" He interjected hastily. "And for that matter, why the fuck would you agree to do such a shitty thing?" He added angrily, before remembering that Elena didn't know the details of the compulsion and that he had wanted to keep it that way.

Well Fuck! There was no way he was getting out of this room without her curiosity being satisfied, he knew Elena well enough to know that, without even having to think about it.

Elena looked from one vampire to the other. Just what the hell had Katherine asked to forget, that had Damon so panicked?

Seconds later a metaphorical light bulb lit up in her brain.

Stefan. Katherine had asked to forget Stefan. And if it was true? Then that meant that Elena still had a chance, she could fight for Damon. He could be the one she chose, the one that wanted him; without having to have her mind wiped. All she had to do was cross her fingers and pray that she was right, that Stefan was the subject of Katherine's compulsion.

It probably made her a selfish and horrible person, to hope that Damon would not want to be with someone who'd had to compel her love of his brother away. To hope that Katherine's former actions, had driven a wedge between the newly reunited lovers. But to be honest, she didn't give a crap what sort of person that made her; as long as she got another chance with Damon. Now she just had to hope she was right and then get him to hang around long enough to comfort him in a way that would make it very clear which Salvatore she preferred. 

Elena Gilbert put on her gameface and crossed those fingers that she was right. Because if she was, Damon was about to get everything he'd ever wanted, and she couldn't wait to be the one to give it to him.

 

Elijah shook his head apologetically, as he met Elena's eyes.

"Oh dear, I'd assumed that Damon would have told you already, if only to put your mind to rest over the Stefan situation. Forgive me Elena, I apologize if my earlier explanation was a bit vague."

Damon glared at Elijah, his teeth clenching impotently at the knowing look on the older vampire's face.

The asshole was enjoying this. He knew full well, that Damon would not have wanted Elena to know what he'd done to Katherine, even if it had been at her request. Which was one revelation he was going to take with a very large grain of salt.

"You see, Katarina came to see me earlier this week because she had reached a rather momentous decision. Apparently, she had been in town for some number of weeks.  She readily admitted to observing  the whole situation with your new status and of course, Stefan's and Damon's reactions to your turning. I'm sorry to report that she was quite displeased with the dynamics between the three of you and very upset that Damon, to paraphrase her words; was being treated like crap by just about everybody." Elijah cleared his throat before continuing.

"She felt that it was unfair that Damon was being treated the way he was when he had, to her mind, done nothing to warrant such treatment. She seemed quite disgusted with Stefan's treatment of his brother and she was extremely angry with you, Elena. Apparently, her feelings over the matter were so intense, that she decided to do something about it." He waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal, as he continued to explain.

"I of course, tried to talk her out of doing what she wanted to do, but it was to no avail. Katarina was quite determined that her plan would be the perfect solution to everyone's problems and in the end, I found myself unable to deny her this one last request."

Elena frowned impatiently, she wished he'd get to the point already. Oh screw it, she was just gonna ask.

"What was it she wanted Elijah?" she demanded pointedly.

Damon flinched knowing what was coming, though he still wasn't sure that Katherine's compulsion was her own idea.

"Yes well it was really quite a neat answer to everyone's difficulties, as I said earlier. You see, she asked me to take away all memories of loving Stefan, to leave only her feelings for Damon, so she could finally give him what he'd wanted." Elijah smiled.

"Actually, thinking about it now, she was quite sweet about it. She said she wanted Damon to have someone that would choose only him and by getting me to compel her, she did that twofold. Without her memories of how she felt for Stefan, it allowed her to choose Damon without repercussions, while at the same time by asking me to compel her in the first place, she was actually choosing him twice." he studied Elena carefully, as he went on to tell them the rest.

"She said she'd seen Damon's heartbreak and realized that he deserved to be loved by someone who would appreciate him."

Elena flinched.

 She informed me, that Stefan was far too broody and angst ridden over your being a vampire and he seemed to be taking it out on his brother, rather than you, Elena. After seeing the way the three of you had been interacting, she decided that neither of you deserved to have Damon in your lives. So she came to the decision that the best thing for all concerned,  would be for her to take Damon away and give him the life he could not have, not if he stayed in Mystic Falls." He frowned briefly.

"Of course I believe now, that she had finally come to terms with the reality that Stefan would never want her, not while he had you. And that knowledge, combined with the fact that you were now to be a very long term rival for both men's affections, was what most likely pushed her into making a definitive choice. To be fair to Katarina, she was extremely angry at the way that Stefan was acting towards Damon. She truly didn't understand how he'd had no problem sharing her with his brother, but denied Damon even a crumb of affection when it came to you, Elena."

Elijah smiled internally as Elena's  expression went through a gamut of emotions.

"Normally I wouldn't have entertained her request, but I was feeling somewhat guilty over my own actions where Katarina was concerned and that, combined with the fact that I felt my family owed you a debt for a number of reasons, decided me. By doing what she wanted, I felt that I was freeing you from the worry over her potential rivalry. It is no secret that Stefan has had..." he paused thoughtfully, "shall we say, some reservations over your becoming a vampire. I concluded, that without Katarina's meddling, you would have a far better chance to work out your relationship issues satisfactorily. If I have been at all presumptuous in this, I must apologize, but at the time it seemed and elegant solution."

"Elegant! You call brain wiping my ex, so she's convinced she's in love with me, elegant. You and I, obviously have a very different definition of that word," Damon spat in disgust.

"We fucking blood shared Elijah, something that I have done, maybe once before in my life and never with someone so close in my line. Thanks to that, I know exactly what Katherine feels for me and I still think what you did was wrong. And if what you say is true and Katherine really did ask you to do the compulsion, it still doesn't matter, because I will always know that she loved Stefan, even if she never remembers it."

Damon clenched his fists and tried to control his notoriously short temper.

"I want you to lift the compulsion, undo it, or better yet, compel her to not remember what she felt for either of us. It's just plain wrong what you two have done and I want it fixed." He glared at Elijah and counted to ten, while he tried to regain his composure.

"Did either of you stop to think when you were planning your wonderful solution to all our problems, about how I might feel about the whole thing? That I might not welcome the thought of having Katherine in my life on those terms, or any for that matter," he snarled.

"Don't get me wrong, a couple of years ago I might have been thrilled that she cared enough to do this and I do care about her, for trying to make it up to me if nothing else. But I'm not in love with Katherine and I haven't been for a long time."

His eyes flitted to Elena, before coming back to rest on Elijah,

"Everyone in this God forsaken town knows how I feel, so why the hell; after waiting for Katherine for a hundred and forty five years, would you think I'd feel any less for Elena. Love isn't something that's interchangeable just because the women involved look the same and I resent the fact, that you both think I'm that fucking shallow. Undo the compulsion Elijah, in whatever way you see fit, but undo it soon. I'm planning on leaving town and I don't particularly want Katherine stalking me for the next hundred years."

Elena's heart plummeted at his words, closely followed by a surge of panic.  

Thinking quickly, she turned to Damon.

Damon, I'm sure Elijah meant well and I know he will do the right thing but right now I need to speak to Elijah privately," she gave him a meaningful look, "but... I want you to promise you won't leave until we talk. I need to speak you about a couple of things before you leave town. Okay," she asked. Her hand curled around his forearm, gripping it hard, as though she was afraid he'd try to leave before she could get him to agree.

Damon eyed the hand thoughtfully, before nodding once.

He turned to Elijah, his eyes boring into the older vampires.

"Elijah. I trust that you'll fix my little problem, without any added tweaks. I would hate to find anybody else I cared about wandering around with muddled thoughts." His eyes flickered between Elena and the original again, the message in them very clear.

Elijah suppressed his smile at Damon's not so subtle threat. It wouldn't do for Damon or Elena to find out just how much he'd manipulated the current situation. They were both so pig headed, they'd probably bolt in different directions. And Elijah had gone to a lot of trouble to fix things so that Elena finally got some happiness in her life.

Now, if Damon would just leave them alone for a little while, Elijah might actually be able to find out if his meddling had borne fruit or not.

He inclined his head graciously before meeting the younger vampires eyes.

"You can be certain Damon, that I will do as you have seen fit to ask. As I said, I was only following Katherine's request out of a sense of fairness. I honestly did not mean harm. I am most apologetic if your experience with Katarina, was not what I thought it would be."

"Yeah well, just fix it and I'll forget it ever happened." Damon huffed, somewhat thrown by Elijah's agreeability.

 "I'm gonna run home and get something to eat. Be back in twenty, okay?" The last was addressed to Elena, his concern obvious as he met her gaze.

"It's fine Damon. We'll be fine. I just want to ask Elijah a few questions about the feeding thing, okay?"

Elena smiled at him, her expression deliberately unconcerned, while inside she was very quietly freaking out over everything she'd learned. Especially the part where Damon was still leaving town.

Damon sketched a quick salute and left the same way he'd entered.

Elena waited just long enough to hear his car leave, before turning to face Elijah.

Elijah smiled at her knowingly, but Elena was far to stressed out to notice.

"Elijah, I need you to something for me, something that will totally make us even for everything. I need you to put Katherine back the way she was but without her anger towards Stefan. And then..." she took a deep breath, then I want you to compel Stefan to admit what he feels for Katherine and to act on it."

She watched Elijah nervously, waiting for his reaction.

Elijah's mouth curved in a warm smile.

"I take it you have finally realized that it is Damon that you are in love with then?"

Elena's eyes narrowed at his unsurprised tone and his shockingly smug expression.

"You knew. You knew that I loved Damon and you still compelled Katherine. Why would you do that Elijah? What sort of game are you playing now?"

He laughed.

"Oh Elena, Of course I knew. I am very old after all and have seen this particular story any number of times. And having seen the outcome so many times, I decided that rather than drag this out, I would assist in its resolution."

He sighed at her angry glare.

"Elena, how long do you think Damon would have stayed in Mystic Falls, knowing that there was no hope? And how long do you think it would have taken you to finally realize that you are in love with him? I dare say it would have been five minutes after he left and at least six minutes too late. And Damon Salvatore, does not strike me as the sort who would be easily found if he did not wish to be." His expression was reproachful, as he met her stricken gaze.

"When Katarina came to me with her plan, I immediately realized that it might be the only way to jolt you out of your complacency. So I tampered with things a little. Katarina, was not initially planning to seek Damon out, not until he was actually on the verge of leaving. Admittedly, she felt it would be sooner rather than later, but I compelled her to be a little more hasty than she might have wished. I wanted you to find out about them Elena," he admitted gently, his eyes suddenly showing his true age.

" You needed a wakeup call. Stefan is not the one for you, he does not value your heart regardless of the form that holds it, but Damon does."

Elena felt her eyes fill with tears, as both Elijah's words and how close she'd come to making a huge mistake hit her again.

Elijah was right. Damon; as much as he loved her, would not have stuck around for much longer, not with the way she'd been treating him. God. She owed Elijah so much, even if she hated the way he'd gone about it. Though to be fair; at least knowing that Damon had been handed everything he'd wanted for a hundred and forty five years and had rejected it because of his feelings for her; well to be honest it actually put one of her biggest fears to rest. Now she was sure she wasn't just some replacement copy for Katherine.

"Elijah, thank you. You're right and I'm glad you decided to meddle, I owe you big time. But right now I really need you to go and compel Katherine and Stefan before Damon has a chance to talk to either of them. I'll do my best to keep him here for as long as I can... and if it goes the way I want it to Damon won't even think about them for a good long time, but I don't need any more drama now that my head is straight." She smiled up at him.

"You're right, I do love Damon Salvatore and I have no desire to fight off Katherine or  upset Stefan, so the quicker you can get to the compelling, the better it will be for all of us."

Elijah reached for her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"I'm glad for you Elena. Love, true and enduring love, that sort of love is very hard to find. I am so glad that you have found it, even if it's with Damon," he added with a grin.

Elena chuckled and impulsively threw her arms around him in what, if he'd been human, would have been a crushing hug.

"Thank you," she murmured into his shoulder.

Raising her head she stepped back and met his eyes.

"If there is anything I can ever do..."

"Nonsense my dear, you deserve every happiness after what my siblings have put you through. Just be happy and that will be more than enough reward for me".

Elijah bowed his head, then taking her hand in his he kissed it with an old world style, that only Elijah could pull off.

"Now, I will bid you farewell and be on my way. I can promise you that by this time tomorrow, Stefan and Katarina will no longer be a factor in yours and Damon's relationship, nor will they have any desire or memory for anything more... than each other."He smiled.

"And Elena... I trust you have what you need to convince Damon?"

Elena grinned.

"Oh yeah.. I'm thinking that blood bond thing should do it."

"Indeed it will Elena. Just be sure that you are both drinking at the same time and there will be no way that Damon can deny your feelings, let alone his" he cautioned.

He bowed once more and then in the blink of an eye, Elijah was gone.

 

Elena breathed out a huge sigh of relief, her heart feeling lighter than it had in months.

Now, all she had to do was pray that Damon came back. And then hope that her acting skills were good enough to get her what she wanted. Damon Salvatore didn't know it yet but he was most definitely not leaving Mystic Falls, not tonight and maybe never. At least, not without her.

 

Just short of a half an hour later Damon approached Elena's room for the second time that night. He tensed at the thought of seeing her now that she knew the truth.  Thankfully his senses told him that Elijah had gone, but his relief in not having to be in his company; was offset, as  he felt his gut twisting with anguish. The thought of having to say goodbye to the woman he loved cutting him to the bone.

Fuck!

Well, better to get this over with. Though why the hell he had even bothered to come back was a mystery. He should have just packed his crap up and gone after getting Elijah's promise of cooperation. Why the hell he felt the need to torture himself by seeing her again, he didn't know. But he'd promised to come back and talk, so that's what he'd do. No matter how much it hurt.

Entering her window, he braced himself for the pain that would surely follow.

 

Katherine stretched like the cat she was so often named for. Her eyes fluttered open and she reached for her lover. The fact that he was not where she remembered him being, along with the sudden rush of their earlier blood sharing memories, meant that the woman Damon had left asleep in his bed was about to be very very angry. She just needed to work out who to kill first.

 

 


	8. The truth and Nothing but the Truth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elena was sitting on her bed when Damon re-entered her room.

He eyed her warily as he straightened from his entry through the window.

Even as keyed up as she was; she was amused to note that ever since becoming a vampire her window seemed to be getting more use than her front door.

She patted the bed.

"Come sit with me Damon, I don't bite you know." She said with a sly grin.

A skeptical eyebrow was raised, but he resisted the urge to engage in his usual banter as he sat down. Making sure to leave an ample amount of personal space between them, he gathered his resolve and met her eyes.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about Elena? I thought you made it pretty clear last night that you wanted some space where you and I are concerned, so why the sudden need for a conversation?"

Well, this wasn't a good sign; he was off with the snark already. She could practically hear his defensive doors slamming shut and his body language was screaming his need to get far far away as quickly as possible.

 

She ducked her head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Look, I'm sorry for acting like an idiot at Whitmore. I've just been so freaking stressed over the whole feeding thing and I guess I took it out on you, as usual. I should have told Bonnie to mind her own business. Instead I let her go all judgy and had a massive guilt trip about the way I was feeling."

She looked up at him, her expression as apologetic as her words.

Damon returned her stare, but was careful to keep his expression guarded.

This was a first, Elena apologizing for not taking his side; must be a sign of the impending apocalypse. Then again, with the week he'd been having, he probably shouldn't even joke about that.

"It's fine Elena, I get it. Apology accepted." he offered flippantly. "Now if that's it I'm gonna make a move. I've got some stuff that I need to do and a couple of things I need to check on before I leave."

He was about to say more, when he got a look at the expression on her face.

Oh fucking crap. He must be more tired than he realized. Why the hell did he have to mention leaving; especially now they were alone.

If the expression on her face was anything to go by she was not at all impressed with his decision to vacate Mystic Falls.  How stupid was he, he knew she wouldn't like the fact that he was going; that her back up was finally backing out. He should have just kept his mouth shut and gotten Stefan to tell her after the fact. Now he'd probably have to deal with a guilt ridden plea for him to stay.

This is what he got for trying to have a conversation after a marathon sex session and less than two hours of sleep. 

Stupid doppelgangers, if they weren't fucking with him one way they were doing it the other. Her mouth tightened and he groaned.

Wait for it...

"You know you don't have to leave Damon. Elijah said he'll fix things with  Katherine and I could really use your help still. I know it seems like I've been doing better and I have, but that doesn't mean I've got it all under control."

And there it was.

He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts and resisted giving her the answer that immediately sprang to mind.

Her big brown eyes were glossy with tears and predictably he found himself feeling the usual confusing mix of anger and love that only Elena could instill.

Christ. He needed sleep in the worst way, but he knew that if he didn't get out of town soon he'd find himself bowing yet again to Elena Gilbert's will.

It was time to man up and admit that second place was just not good enough, not after last night and not now that he knew; if only briefly, what it felt like to be first.

"Look Elena," he sighed “you're going to be fine without little old me. The Whitmore excursion proved that, if nothing else. You've got the hang of things now and you have Judgy and Blondie to back you up. And let's not forget dear baby brother." His mouth twisted into a crooked grin, as he continued to list the reasons for his leaving.

"Besides, I really think that last night proved that the lessons I can teach you are not ones you really wanna learn. And hey, I totally get that, I'm the bad guy after all. As for the Katherine sitch? Well, to be honest, it's only underlined the fact that sometimes it's better to move on and start over fresh rather than chase what you can't have. Kat waited all these years, wasted all that time holding on to Stefan and I and neither of us ended up wanting her."

 He shook his head, his expression regretful as he met her eyes.

"It's time to move on... for all of us Elena. To be truthful I actually promised Stef  I'd leave months ago, I only stuck around because you needed me, but now I really think it's time to go."

 

His voice was gruff and unlike anything she'd ever heard from Damon. He was doing his best to not let on that he was hurting over this, even with it being his decision.

Elena's heart felt like it was twisting in her chest. God, she'd hurt him so much with her continued denial and constant neediness. Pulled him in and pushed him away so often; it was no wonder he wanted to get away from her. Even her earlier confession hadn't seemed to make a difference, he really believed that she would never love him the way he loved her.

"You know," he continued, interrupting her internal self derision.

"When I came back to town originally it was only to get Katherine back. I never intended to stay, but stuff happened and well you know the rest." He gestured vaguely. "Now that Stefan's back to being the terror of all things fluffy and Katherine is behind me, there's nothing to keep me here."

He raised his hand forestalling her intended interruption.

"And before you say it again, no, you really don't need me, not anymore. You're strong and more in control than any vamp I know, with the possible exception of Barbie.  And hey, you and  little bro will work things out, you always do." His mouth twisted into a pained grimace as he studied her mutinous expression. He sighed.

"I need to start living my life for me Elena. I want to find someone that will choose me and only me and that isn't going to happen if I stay in Mystic Falls."

"But Damon."

"No Elena... just let me finish. I'm asking you to let me go like you said you were going to do before the accident screwed everything up. You made a decision that night, all I'm asking is that you honor that decision.  I'll even promise to stay in touch so Steff will know where to find me if you guys have any trouble.  And hey," he added sardonically, "knowing your propensity for attracting bad guys, I'm sure you'll barely have time to miss me before I have to come back and save all you're asses yet again."

He smirked at his comment, doing his best to hold it together in her presence. It was killing him to walk away from her, but he knew it would kill him a lot quicker if he stayed.

Elena loved his brother and fight or no fight; it was always going to be Stefan for her. It was time for Damon to let go.

 

Elena dropped her eyes so he wouldn't see the pain and anger in hers. If she was a better person she wouldn't do what she was about to do, the old Elena would have never even considered it.

Well... the old Elena was an idiot. Fortunately, vampire Elena was a lot more selfish when it came to getting what she wanted.

She'd been right about one thing last night; she was a lot more like Damon than was probably healthy. But now that she'd finally stopped running from her feelings, she was actually kind of okay with that.

Damon was ruthless when it came to those he loved and she was starting to realize when it came down to it, she was capable of being just as hardnosed. She was not losing him, even if it meant manipulating him to get what she wanted.

Good girl Elena was officially dead, long live vampire Elena.

"Yeah, okay," she sighed pretending to give in while deliberately hiding her frustration.

"You're probably right about that last part. And I understand why you need to leave, but before you go I need to ask you something... Well it's a favor really."

She watched him from beneath lowered lashes trying to gauge his mood. After all she needed him agreeable, not bolting as soon as she told him what she needed him for.

She knew that telling him she'd meant what she'd said earlier when she'd blurted out her feelings wouldn't change his mind. He'd obviously rationalized his way around her confession, so there was no point trying to tell him differently. And really, she couldn't blame him for that. Only hours earlier she'd been telling him she didn't want him around and then the moment he looked like moving on she confesses to feelings that she's denied ever having. Yeah right. She wouldn't believe her either if she was in his shoes.

But God. He looked so tired and sad that it made her heart ache in sympathy for his pain. She just had to remind herself that if her plan worked, he'd probably be thanking her an hour from now.

 

Damon stared at her bent head, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. He wasn't stupid. Elena had been far too quick to reassure him, a sure sign she was up to something. If he'd been less tired he'd probably care more about that. But at this point there wasn't much else she could do that would hurt worse than the words she'd flung at him last night.

"What do you need Elena? " he asked somewhat curtly. His temper flaring as he realized his leaving was going to be delayed even longer.

He watched her chew on her lip nervously and his frustration rose as it hit him; that even with reaching the decision to leave she still had the power to move him in a way that no other women ever had and he feared, never would.

Okay. She had to be very careful now. Damon wasn't in any way stupid. If he smelt a rat he'd be out of there faster than she could blink.

"Um...Elijah, he...ah...well... he told me a way that it might be possible to fix the problem that I...ah... have with blood bags."

 

Well, wasn't that just peachy, he thought harshly. Here I am, breaking my heart over leaving her and all she cares about is fixing her eating habits.

Tension crept into his limbs a he felt his anger flare up again.

"Of course he did," he managed to drawl sarcastically.

 "Well then, spit it out. Knowing Elijah this should be interesting at least. I'm assuming from your expression, that it somehow involves moi?"He bit out with a carelessly pointed hand gesture encompassing his person.

His lips thinned at her hesitant nod and he actually had to clench his teeth to keep from giving in to the sudden fury that her admission had sparked.

Fucking typical. I knew she was being all reasonable and nice for a reason. Elena Gilbert wanted something from him and if the way she was chewing at her lip was anything to go by, it was not going to be something he was going to enjoy. He cocked a brow expectantly and waited.

 

Elena could see his barely checked rage and her stomach knotted with sympathetic pain. She wished there was another way to do this, a way that wouldn't hurt him for even a second, but she knew thanks to her past behavior this was the only way left that he would not be able to deny.

"Okay.... “She swallowed heavily.”Elijah thinks the reason I have trouble taking blood from anything other than a human vein is because of the way I was turned. He said that because the blood in my system was used without your consent, it's caused side effects. Apparently, there has to be some sort of acknowledgement by the vampire whose blood is doing the turning for it to work properly." She studied him covertly from beneath her lashes.

"He said it's a mystical glitch, a subconscious urge to complete the siring properly. Ergo...I can only drink direct from the source... because I didn't drink directly from my sire."

Elena did her best to inject just the right amount of sincerity into her voice; enough to convince him without setting off his well honed bullshit meter. It wouldn't do to make him suspicious of her intentions. She needed him to believe what she was telling him if she was going to get him to agree to furnish the cure.

 

Damon frowned, thinking over what she'd said.

He supposed it could be true. Meredith Fell had blood jacked him for the blood she'd used on Elena. So it was entirely possible that if siring did contain some element of consent, then theoretically; the use of it without that consent might possibly have had some weird assed side effects.

"Okay for arguments sake, let's say I believe Elijah, what do you want me to do about it Elena? I can't exactly resire you, so what did Elijah suggest?"Damon inquired both his tone and expression wary.

Elena flushed and looked away for a moment, before raising her chin and meeting his glare. Her expression was hard to decipher as Damon waited for her to answer him.

"Elijah said...he said... well, that we'd have to do what you and Katherine did...the blood sharing thing. He said that the only way I'll be able to stop feeding from humans is if we take blood from each other, the way a vampire is supposed to do when he or she is turning someone."

She looked away from his intense gaze and flushed again.

"But he says that because I'm already a vampire, the blood exchange has to be at the same time for it to work."

Pushing himself up off the bed he snarled and spun away from her.

"Fuck No!" He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head in denial.

Turning back to stare down at her bent head, all he could think about was how it would feel to share that much of himself with her.

"Jesus Elena! What the hell do you want me to say? I really don't think you understand exactly what you are asking here. Blood sharing is not something you can just do and shrug off. It's the most intimate thing two vampires can do... it's beyond anything you'll ever experience with anyone else. You'd be asking me to open my mind and soul to you... while doing the same. Shit Elena, having sex with me would be less intimate,” Damon offered harshly.

Her bent head raised and her eyes met his, but apart from a faint flush across her cheeks, Damon couldn't even guess what she might be thinking. Her expression was strangely blank and in light of his blunt words he found that more than a little disconcerting.

 "If we did this...do this..." he pointed, encompassing the two of them, "You won't be able to hide anything from me Elena. Every emotion and memory will be wide open to me, including ones that you might not want to admit to," he offered pointedly.

"And you'd see things that you are not going to like... things I've done and felt. Stuff that even I've forgotten about. Then there's the little fact that you have consistently avoided facing or acknowledging the way I feel about you. We do this and you are not going to be able to avoid facing my feelings for you... or yours for me... no matter what they are. Because despite what you think you believe, a blood bond shows all the nasty little truths."

He leered at her deliberately, trusting in her need to hide the fact; that even though she didn't love him, she still wanted his hot little body. Hoping it would be enough to discourage her from what he knew was bound to be a disaster of epic proportions. At least for him.

"So Elena.  Are you really sure you want to be that far in my head? And do you really want me in yours?"

He cocked an eyebrow, pasted on his most challenging smirk and waited for her reply.


	9. Home is where the heart is.

Sometimes it amazed her how a man like Damon could be such a complete contradiction. And then he'd do his, 'I'm an asshole ask me how' smirk and she'd have no problem seeing that there was no real contradiction.

Sure, he was capable of being a vindictive murdering bastard. But if you knew the real Damon even that part of him was understandable; if not quite forgivable. 

He did what he did, for the same reason he'd done every shitty thing in his life. He did it to prove that he wasn't the loser; the second choice. He did it to prove that nothing could hurt him. Because evil lying assholes; didn't get hurt. 

Damon Salvatore lived by the do it to them before they do it to you rule.  
Mostly; because that was the only way he could get through the shit he'd had thrown at him all of his life. He'd learnt that nice guys finish last and decided he never wanted to finish last again. Top that off with some truly huge anger issues and you got a guy that was determined never to let anyone in. The vampire thing had only made it worse.

Sadly; as she had pointed out to him that night in Denver, it was one of the reasons she'd been so reluctant to let him close to her. 

Even now there was part of her that was scared that Damon only loved her because on some level he thought it was safe; that she would never return his feelings. Thereby justifying his right to the whole; 'why bother really trying when your never gonna win' attitude.

And if that had been all there was to him; all that he'd portrayed even knowing what was hidden underneath the attitude, it might not have been enough for her to risk her heart. No matter how much she loved him. Fortunately, Damon was his own worst enemy and he screwed up a lot more than he'd ever admit.

Even when he was deliberately being the biggest dick in the entire universe he'd slip occasionally. And sometimes, even the bad shit he did was for reasons that were far more complex than even Damon knew. Rose was just one of his more blatant slips. There were countless others tiny ones that Damon would be shocked by, if she pointed them out. 

Anyway; back to the matter at hand. 

Damon was probably telling himself, that he was doing what he was doing because he didn't want to go through the pain of knowing how much she still loved Stefan; and how little she felt for him. But she Elena Gilbert knew better. This was Damon in one of his most classic avoidance tactics. He'd just never admit that it wasn't his own feelings that he was protecting.

And sure; Damon didn't want his heart pummeled any more than it already had been. But a larger part of Damon still didn't want to hurt Elena. He wouldn't want her to have to face the sexual attraction he though she felt for him. And he really didn't want her to see the bad stuff he'd done in the past; most especially the stuff that dealt with Stefan and their murderous shared past. Because underneath his callus flirty asshole exterior, Damon was still willing to endure whatever it took to protect the people he loved.... And he loved both her and his brother.

Well for once in his life it was time for someone else to a bad thing for the right reasons. Now she just had to hope that her love for him would be obvious enough and just plain enough, that he'd get over the lying part of tricking him into this.  
She was betting her future on it so she hoped for both their sake that he'd let himself actually be happy; without second guessing every damn thing.

Guess there was only one sure way to find out.

"Don't be a dick Damon. You know I don't have any choice; I can't spend the rest of my life being babysat by my friends and family. I need to be able to feed without worrying that this might be the night I finally turn to the dark side of the force... so to speak." 

She rolled her eyes at his incredulous look.

"What! It seemed apt, Can't you see me going all Darth Elena?" she teased trying to lighten his mood.

"Seriously though, I need to be able to have some control over this feeding thing. Even Caroline agrees that blood bags are the only way she got through the whole newborn thing." 

She hid her grin at his look of disgust.

"First. Please tell me you did not just make a Twilight reference to describe yourself or I may just have to stake you; and secondly, how do we even know this is gonna work? It might just make things worse for all we know". 

He raked a hand through his hair, his attempt at meeting her levity balanced by the concern in his eyes.

"Damon, you're leaving, I don't have any other choice" she huffed with her best exasperated glare. "Without the blood sharing thing, it’s not a matter of if I kill, but when. I need to try this, because frankly without you around I don't trust myself not to slip."

She knew her words were a calculated risk. If she'd played her hand carefully, Damon would be convinced she was pushing the blood bond thing so he'd agree to stay if she forgot about doing it. Secondly; she was banking on his need to get the pain over quickly rather than draw it out any longer. And her words were also designed to deflect him from knowing how much she actually wanted to blood bond with him. Now she just had to hope he'd take the bait.

 

Damon met her gaze, searching for some God damn reason to turn her down. Unfortunately, she was a pillar of resolve and whatever might be really going on in her head; it was not showing on her face. He groaned.

"Fine, but we do it now or not at all." he bit out. "I have no desire to hang around and explain the whole Katherine thing to Stefan and the sooner I see the back of this town, the better. So c'mon then Elena, let's do it". 

His leer was half hearted as he dropped backwards to stretch out on her bed and just for a second Elena felt a twinge of guilt for playing him the way she was. Fortunately, vampire Elena immediately smacked her upside her metaphoric head and told her to pony up.

 

Lowering her eyes to conceal her relief; Elena sank down on the bed next to him with a grateful sigh. Rolling on her side to face him she studied his suddenly closed off expression. 

"So how do we do this?" she asked softly, her hand reaching for the tensed fist that currently lay against his thigh.

 

Taking a deep breath however unneeded, Damon turned his head to look at her.

"I think the traditional way is best." he said with a frown. "I'll feed from your neck, you from my wrist. But the moment and I mean the exact moment you feel the bond, you have to agree to stop or I won't do this at all. I want to get through this with minimal humiliation on both our parts and since you are already a vampire I think we can dispense with the Anne Rice bullshit." 

 

"Oh okay, I guess you know what's best". Reaching up she swept her hair away from her neck and angled her head to give him access. "Um... is this okay. Do you want me to... you know...go first, or I should I hold off until you start?" asked Elena, her voice deliberately hesitant. 

Keeping her eyes downcast and her voice timid, she did her best to control her breathing and heart rate as she anxiously waited for him to make his move. Everything she wanted hinged on this moment, on Damon's feelings for her. And she hated that she was using those feelings to trick him into an act that should have been something that they both wanted; rather than one last duty he could perform for a woman that he believed would never love him.  
That he was willing to lay himself bare for the sake of her inability to feed normally was just more proof that he loved her in way's she couldn't begin to understand. 

But she wanted to. 

She wanted more than anything in the world to be the one that was worthy of the kind of love that he felt for her, but she wasn't stupid. She had trampled his heart one too many times for him to believe anything she might say. Her earlier confession of her feelings in front of Stefan and Katherine were a case in point. She'd all but said the words and yet Damon had heard none of them. 

The old Damon would have leaped on even the smallest hint of affection directed his way, but the Damon that had held Katherine in his arms; was a Damon that could no longer believe that Elena Gilbert felt anything for him that wasn't second to her feelings for his brother. 

 

As Damon's mouth touched her neck, Elena prayed that what they were about to do would convince Damon in a way that all the words in the world wouldn't. Because if it didn't work she knew that it would be the last time he touched her.

 

Damon raised his wrist to her lips, his gut clenching and his cock hardening with the thought of tasting the one woman he wanted more than anyone. Sharing something he would never have dreamed of with Elena; even if it wasn't for the reasons he wished, was more than he ever dared to hope. But it still didn't change the fact that it scared the shit out of him. The next five minutes would change both their lives... he just wasn't sure he's survive it.

He felt the prick of Elena's fangs. Not breaking the skin just yet; holding off, waiting for him. Eyes closing and steeling himself for what he was about to do and the pain he was about to invite. Damon was stunned when Elena was suddenly wrenched from his arms and thrown across the room.

 

His eyes flew open and he met the furious gaze of Katherine Pierce.

Well Fuck!


	10. Oh what a tangled Web

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

"Looks like I got here just in time lover boy" snarled Katherine. "What the hell do you think you are doing Damon? Because it better not be what I think it is." 

She turned to glare at her doppelganger who was only just getting to her feet.

"And you just stay right where you are you little bitch. I've let you fuck with Damon's heart long enough, you don't get another chance. No matter what you think you feel."

Damon started to rise from the bed, and without even looking Katherine shoved him back down.

"Stay" she ordered. 

"Both of you stay right where you are. I've got some stuff to say and you are going to fucking hear it or I swear I'll snap both your necks and tie you up."

Damon shot Elena a look of warning. Praying she would follow his lead, he leaned back on Elena's bed and smirked.

"Now now kitty Kat, you can retract the claws. There's no need to be jealous, I was just helping Elena out with her little eating disorder. So what's up... did you get bored without little old me around to keep you amused?" 

Cocking a brow he ran his eyes down her form suggestively. 

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Cut the crap Damon. I know you know that Elijah compelled me. And it doesn't take a genius to know that you've already spoken to him; and that you know why he did it. What you don't know is why I decided to do it in the first place."

 

"Yes we do" cut in Elena, her tone scathing. 

"Elijah told us everything and he's gone looking for you so he can fix it." Her eyes darted to meet Damon's as she registered the expression on Katherine's face. 

 

Okay this was bad thought Damon, as Katherine shrugged and studied her nails. Why was she calm? Katherine Pierce didn't do calm, she plotted and planned and manipulated, but she was never calm, unless....

"Shit!” he cursed. “You knew I'd find out and you knew that Elijah would tell me the rest, didn't you Katherine? You set this whole thing up. I just can't figure out what your angle is" Damon mused, his expression fierce.  
"  
Why go to all the trouble of having Elijah compel you if he was only going to reverse it when I found out?" He crossed his arms and studied her expectantly.

 

"Well... that's just it Damon. I don't want Elijah to reverse It." she offered calmly. 

Sitting back, Katherine relaxed on the window seat, as she watched Damon and Elena's reaction to her words.

 

"Yeah, Okay. I still don't get it." Elena muttered. 

 

Damon shot Elena a quick glance.

"Good to know I'm not the only one." He admitted offhandedly, his attention turning back to Katherine.

"Care to explain?" he asked her warily. 

 

"I thought you'd never ask" Katherine drawled, her tone sarcastic as she leaned forward.

"Everything Elijah told you is the truth. As is everything else you learned from our little connection with the blood bond."She added.

"But what Elijah didn't know and the blood bond obviously didn’t reveal was that I had a witch spell me to make sure I remembered why I asked him to do all of it." Taking note of the confused frown on Damon's face she sighed with exasperation.

"Okay kiddies, try to stay with me here. Coz this is where it gets really complicated so you might want to suspend your disbelief until I've finished." She stared hard at Elena before continuing.

"Yes, I asked Elijah to compel me to forget what I felt for Stefan... but I made sure I'd remember the real reason I asked for the compulsion. The story I gave Elijah was one that I knew would satisfy him; and it was true to a certain point. What neither you nor Elijah knew was that this was not the first time I've had my own memory tampered with."

She stood and walked towards Damon.

"Back when I first met you and Stefan, I took a little trip to New Orleans and sought help from a friend or yours Damon. Or rather, a friend to be. Didn't you ever wonder why Gloria was so tolerant of you when she obviously despised your brother?" She gestured airily.

"She was quite fond of you you know. Of course, a lot of that fondness had to do with the little favor I asked of her. Dear Gloria, she was always such a romantic deep down."

 

"Yeah whatever Kat. do you think you could get to the point sometime this century. I've got places I'd rather be” drawled Damon his tone bored, even though he had a sinking feeling where this was heading.

 

"So impatient" scolded Katherine, as she stroked the tip of her fingers along his jaw.  
  
A frown knitted her brow when Damon drew back from her touch.

"Fine!" she huffed pulling back slightly. 

"I'd known Stefan a short while and was quite enjoying the game of will she won't we with him. I thought at first that perhaps I would marry the boy and stay in Mystic Falls for a time. He was so innocent, so sweet... and so very gullible. And I was very sick of running. Marriage would have given me access to the town and a certain respectability. Stefan would never have been any the wiser to my true nature; and I would have some respite from Elijah because he would hear from his many spies that I was no more faithful to Stefan than I was to my last paramour." 

Her lips quirked at Damon's snort and Elena's disgusted expression. 

"Yes well, it seemed like the perfect arrangement at the time. Pearl and I had such plans for the town and as I said I was desperate to just settle somewhere, even if only for a year or two. Unfortunately, Stefan failed to mention that he was not an only child." 

Her eyes locked with Damon's.

"I don't think I can ever remember feeling as stunned as I was when I looked up that day and there you were; just standing under the arch in the garden. You were so ragged in your uniform and you looked weary enough for two men, but you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen and I knew I wanted you from that moment on." 

 

Damon stilled at the look in her eyes. His discomfort with her words waring with his uncertainty of the expression on her face.

"Katherine?"

 

"Mortal and Immortal I have never known a feeling like it Damon; I was dizzy with shock and barely in control. Then you kissed my hand and I knew my heart was yours" she admitted.

Katherine turned away, her eyes meeting Elena's stricken ones.

"I don't think I have ever been as alive as I was in those first weeks after meeting him... or so scared." She laughed; her voice hollow with remembered despair.

"I was terrified. I wanted to run as far away as I could, but I knew it was far too late for that. So instead I sought out Gloria and asked her for a spell." 

Katherine turned back to face him, her expression apologetic.

"I asked her to take away my feelings for you...I begged her. I didn't want to love anybody again and what I already felt for you was beyond anything I had ever experienced... so I begged her to take it away." 

 

Elena felt her heart clench in her chest. The pain in Katherine's eyes scraping her own heart raw in a way her words couldn't.

"Of course, I told myself that it would be the best thing for the both of us... that if Elijah found out I'd lose you anyway... but the truth was that I was afraid to love you. I was terrified that you would hate me when you learned what I was and I didn't want to take the risk." She shuddered as she remembered her near panicked flight to New Orleans.

"Gloria agreed to do it of course, but when she tried to cast the spell it fizzled. Apparently real love cannot be banished so easily" admitted Katherine, her expression pained.

"It's one of the few times I've seen Gloria shocked. She didn’t understand how the wicked Katarina Petrova had lost her heart to a mortal man, yet alone one that she'd barely kissed."

Scowling at the memory, Katherine shook her head and pushed her hair back from her face.

"Her eventual solution... the only way I could live with my feelings, was not what I had gone there for. But it was the only way" she explained determinedly.

"Genuine love could not be dispelled, but Gloria found a way to lessen what I felt. Her solution was a spell that echoed what I felt for one brother by ensuring that I’d feel it for the other. Of course she had to get creative so it would hold as long as it did, so she crafted it so my human half was drawn to Stefan and my vampire self to Damon. Then without my knowledge she added just enough power so that my feelings for Stefan would feel like they were more... compulsive, for want of a better word. She never did like me very much, so I suppose it amused her to see me chasing the wrong brother”

Katherine slid down to kneel at Damon's feet.

Taking his hands in hers she looked up at him her expression entreating him to believe her words.

"Naturally when Gloria died, the spell started to unravel and I began to question so many things about my life and my feelings. Both for you and for Stefan. But Gloria's spell was strong and so was my arrogance... and my anger at you.' She admitted her expression pained. 

"I told myself I was imagining things, that of course I’d loved you both once upon a time. I tried to convince myself that it was just the old feelings resurfacing...confusing me about who I loved more... That it had been Stefan that I'd always planned to be with; that my lingering feelings for you were lust and nothing more."

She shook her head.

"I still wasn't sure what I was feeling all this time later... not until I returned to this damn town after the council got itself blown up. The moment I laid eyes on you three together the spell collapsed completely and it didn't take long for me to make a few very necessary decisions." 

She turned to look at Elena, her eyes glittering with some unnamed emotion.

"You had it all... everything I had ever wanted. I'd gotten that much right."  
Katherine chuckled mirthlessly.

"Except of course... thanks to the damn spell I've spent the last God knows how long convinced it was Stefan I'd choose if it came down to it. And the kicker is that it was all my own fault for being such a monumental coward." Her eyes turned hard as she continued to stare at Elena.

"But you.... You didn't have a spell keeping you from him. He offered everything to you and asked for nothing... and you threw it back in his face. He would have died for you... he did kill for you. And all he got in return was your contempt and a half hearted friendship."

She stood and placed her hand on Damon's shoulder, her gaze still fixed on her doppelgangers face.

"I had Elijah compel me so I could put everything right... so I could make things the way they should have been. I'd forgotten about the bond, I've never wanted to share blood like that so I didn't even think about it until it was too late. And now you think just because Elijah compelled me, that that gives you the right to come in and try to take what is mine." 

Katherine snarled, her grip tightening on Damon's shoulder.

"I loved him first and I loved him instantly. I might have gone about things the wrong way and been a coward, but I never denied loving him... at least not when magic wasn't involved. You treated him like dirt just last night and yet here you are asking him to share blood with you because you’re still as much of a fucking coward as you ever were. You don't deserve Damon's love and I'll be damned if I stand by and watch you play games with him again."

Ignoring Elena’s shocked expression; Katherine turned her attention back to Damon.

"Damon, I want you to come with me tonight... right now. I'm begging you to come with me... to make a life with me. My heart chose you over one hundred and forty five years ago and I should have trusted it then. You should have been my choice back then, but I can’t change my mistake, I can only tell you that here and now you are my first and only choice.” 

Her hand swept up from his shoulder to cup his jaw, tears glittering in her dark eyes as her voice softened.

“Don’t you see Damon? When I had Elijah compel me it was the lingering effects of Gloria’s spell that I wanted gone. Logically I knew any feeling I had for him were because of splitting what I’d felt for you, but even with the spell gone they’d been in place for far too long to just disappear and I didn’t have time to wait, not with the way things were going for you. The compulsion is a moot point anyway because the feelings I had for Stefan were generated by Gloria's spell so they weren’t ever real.”

Katherine bit her lip and let her hand drop.

“And I know I've hurt you... probably more than you should forgive. But I meant what I said earlier. I love you Damon and I want to see what we could have had together if I hadn't been such a coward. Please give me the chance to find out?"

Damon met her eyes and felt his head throb with pain. His heart wasn't in much better shape.

What the fuck was he supposed to do now?

Kat really did love him... he'd always been the one she wanted. But at the same time, she'd done some pretty desperate shit trying to deny her feelings. 

Looking at her and the hope and fear in her eyes, he didn't know what to think. On one hand this was what he'd always wanted. Someone that loved him and only him. Someone that would put him before all others.  
She wanted them to go away together and to see if they could build a life; and he was having a very hard time coming up with a reason to say no.

If he could forgive the choices she'd made and accept that she really did love him, then didn't he owe it to both of them to try. After all, there was nothing holding him here in Mystic Falls. 

Or was there?

He glanced across at Elena and the expression on her face made his stomach plummet.

 

Elena looked devastated and was obviously doing her best to hold back tears. 

So yeah... he was the first to admit he could be a little slow sometimes, but he did eventually manage to get clued in if he was given enough hints.

Katherine's little tirade had well and truly tipped him off... well that and Elena's look of guilt when Katherine had brought up the whole blood bond thing.

And what if Elena did have feelings for him? 

Well crap! What the hell was he going to do now?  
Could he take a chance?  
Did he even want to?

Right then.  
Time to get some straight answers, from the other Petrova.

Getting up from the bed, he was about to ask Katherine if he could have a moment alone with Elena and already cringing at her expected response; when an unexpected visitor arrived through Elena's window.

Damon was quick to note that Stefan did not look at all happy.

 

Rolling his eyes at what was sure to be a drama packed next few minutes Damon sighed and sat back down.


	11. Here we go round again

Here we go round again.

 

Elena's first thought when Stefan appeared was: That's it. I'm getting bars on that window first thing Monday. Her second unknowingly echoed Damon's.

Great! More drama; that’s just what I need.

Stefan looked mad enough to kill, Damon looked carefully bored and Katherine just looked frustrated and pissed off.

Sidling over to the bed; Elena perched on the farthest end from Damon and waited for the explosion.  
She didn't have long to wait.

“What the hell is going on here?” Stefan snarled, taking in the proximity of both of the Petrova doppelgangers to his brother. 

In truth he didn’t really need to ask, he’d been outside Elena’s window just long enough to get a pretty good idea of how things were going and just who they were going with.  
When he didn’t get an answer other than the usual eye roll and self satisfied smirk from Damon, he reacted.  
Lunging forward he wrenched Katherine away from his brothers side and turned her to face him.

“I asked a question Katherine, I expect an answer...Now “he barked.

Guess Elijah found Stefan then.  
Elena winced.  
She shot a sidelong look at Damon.  
Damon looked tired still, but it was overlayed with a definite tinge of amusement at his brothers’ expense.

Katherine let out a very unladylike like snort and shoved Stefan away from her.

“Not that it’s any of your business Stefan, but I was stopping your little girlfriend from snacking on your brother. Now if you don’t mind Damon and I have some talking to do, as I’m sure do you and Elena.”

At her words, Stefan glared pointedly at Damon, before turning back to face Katherine.

“Elena and I have said what needed to be said. It’s you I want to talk to Katherine. Elijah came to see me and told me what you did. What I want to know is why?”

Katherine shot Elena a nasty look.  
“Fuck. Please tell me you didn’t?” she hissed. “God I don’t believe this crap.”

Damon, never slow to catch on when it came to his brother, chuckled at the look of determination on Stefan’s face; and the increasingly frustrated expression on Katherine’s.

Looks like Elena’s little conversation with good old Elijah might have had a lot more to it than a cure for her eating disorder. This was getting down right interesting. And he couldn’t wait to see how Katherine was going to cope with a Stefan that was apparently focused only on her.  
Though If the nervous look on Elena’s face was anything to by; Elena was just starting to realize that getting well away from Katherine would probably be a wise move about now.

Elena met Katherine’s glare with her own defiant one. 

So what if Katherine loved Damon. She’d had her chance and she’d chosen to run away from it. Damon loved her, not Katherine... didn’t he?  
Why the hell should she just step aside and let Katherine take him away from her. She’d only just come to her senses where Damon was concerned; didn’t she at least deserve the chance to give Damon the truth? And didn’t Damon deserve the right to know that Katherine wasn’t his only option?  
Watching Katherine and Stefan winding up to what looked like the argument of the millennia, she decided to stop thinking and just do.

Elena sidled closer to Damon and as soon as she was sure that Katherine was sufficiently distracted by Stefan’s unwanted attention, she took her chance.  
“Psst... Damon. Wanna go get something to eat?”

Damon threw her a speculative look, before quirking a brow towards the other two vampires.  
“Looks like they might be a while... I could eat”. He offered with a shrug.  
“You go first and I’ll meet you at my car in two.” He added.

Elena grinned.  
“See you there.” She mouthed, heading towards the bathroom and the connecting door to her brothers room.

Damon waited long enough to make sure that neither Katherine nor Stefan would notice his absence, before blurring across the room and out of the window.

When he reached his car Elena was already ensconced in the front passenger seat, so he slid in and turned to face her.

“So... where to? Coz the boarding house is out... first place Katherine and my brother are going to head when they realize we’ve gone.”

Elena chewed on her lip and frowned.

“How about we just drive then. Maybe grab a bite on our way out of town.”

Damon raised his brows and flashed her a smirk.  
“Blonde or brunette” he quipped.

Rolling her eyes, Elena smacked him lightly with the back of her hand.  
“I meant a burger, Damon. You know...People food; not actual people. God you’re terrible.” 

Damon chuckled and started the car.  
“Spoilsport.”

Elena just rolled her eyes again and smothered her grin.

“So what do you think Elijah’s really up to? I mean the whole Katherine thing is bizarre enough, but he’s obviously done something to my brother that is less than kosher. He barely acknowledged our presence and I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t even register our leaving at all.”  
Damon was careful to keep his tone light as he spoke, but he didn’t miss the fact that Elena’s lip was getting a fair amount of attention from her sharp little teeth with his words.  
“Let’s just hope Katherine doesn’t stake him in a fit of temper. Then again... she’s not stupid; she has to know that his sudden about face has Elijah written all over this.” He offered unconcernedly.  
“So.... why do you think he did it? 

Elena ducked her head; her hands smoothing roughly over her denim clad legs as she looked everywhere but at him. 

Damon stayed silent, but he could feel the tension in the car climbing by the moment.

Making a sudden decision, he veered to the side of the road and pulled up on the verge beneath a large willow. Turning to look at her, he reached out and gently turned her face towards him.  
“Elena... Why did Elijah compel Stefan?”

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Elena visibly flinched at his question. She un-balled her hands from where they’d come to rest in her lap and swallowed hard. 

“Because I asked him to”. 

She wiped her palms against her jeans, her nails digging into the fabric as she met his eyes.

“I told him to make Stefan admit what he really feels for Katherine... and he was supposed fix it so Katherine was happy with Stefan, but that was before I knew the truth.” She looked back down at her lap.  
“I didn’t know about Gloria’s spell... that she really loved just you...and I... well it doesn’t really matter does it” she asked, her voice fading to a whisper.  
“Elijah obviously didn’t compel Katherine the way we thought and now you know that she’s really in love with you, so I guess it all worked out fine.” She finished in a rush.

“Hmm... it seems that way doesn’t it?” Damon mused thoughtfully.

Elena didn’t answer, she just blinked furiously against the sudden ache behind her eyes. 

“Well... except for the part where I’m still not in love with Katherine.”

Elena’s head shot up and her eyes met Damon’s.

“You...You’re not?

“No Elena I don’t love Katherine... I haven’t loved her for a long time.”

“Oh... Then why... why did you... you know...” Elena flushed and looked away.

“Sleep with her?”

“Y-Yes.”

Damon’s expression softened at the tremor in her voice, his own hope rising at the shy look on Elena’s face.

He sighed.

“It’s complicated...” 

Elena’s expression fell, but her dark eyes studied his face expectantly.

“I was angry with you when I got back tonight and Katherine was there. And she was different... she seemed so much like the girl I’d loved all those years ago, but... Well she seemed real in a way I’d never known her to be. I suppose I was being selfish in a way... wanting someone to want me. Someone that wouldn’t care about all the bad things I’ve done and she seemed to want me, like I thought she’d wanted me all those years ago.” He admitted with a sigh. 

“So I gave in. I wanted to forget... even if it wasn’t the truth. I wanted what you couldn’t give me and she could.”  
His looked away.

“Oh Damon. We’ve both been so stupid.”

His eyes snapped back to her at her words, his expression wary as he waited for her to continue.

Elena smiled tremulously.  
“Come here Damon.” 

She tugged at his hand, pulling him closer.  
“The blood sharing thing that you did with Katherine.... I want us to do it now. And not for any stupid feeding cure. I want you to know how I really feel, so you know that what I’m about to say is nothing more than the truth.”

She swallowed hard.

“I’m in love with you Damon... I was just so scared of admitting it to myself that I deliberately pushed you away. Becoming a vampire wasn’t something I ever wanted… but it made me realize one thing.”  
Her eyes slid away from his to study their joined hands as she continued to speak.  
“I realized I don’t mind being a vampire so much when I’m with you... and that scared the crap out of me. I don’t feel that way when I’m around Stefan, but when I’m with you I don’t even think about what I’ve become. I’m always just Elena when I’m with you... and I couldn’t handle it.” She admitted.

“I realized tonight seeing you with Katherine that I couldn’t keep lying to myself. It was easier when I was human, because I refused to even think of turning for Stefan and that made him safe to be with.”

She studied his face carefully, searching for any hint of disbelief.

“When we went to Georgia that time and Lexie’s boyfriend attacked you, do you remember what he said?” 

Damon frowned briefly, before answering.

“Something about turning for her because if you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever... wasn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Yes, that’s what he said. And I kept going back to that constantly after you bit me to save my life. I think that’s when I realized that Stefan wasn’t forever for me.... But Damon, I think a part of me knew that with you it would be forever and I couldn’t face that part of myself, not when I’d refused to even consider doing it for Stefan. I didn’t want to be that girl, so I refused to think about it, period.” She gripped his hands tighter.

“Then I woke up as a vampire and suddenly there was no choice to make.” 

She sighed.  
“But I’d made the decision to stay with Stefan and I was too stupid to realize that I’d made that choice for the wrong reasons. I knew I had feelings for you, but I pretended that I didn’t, because I was still trying to be the girl I’d been before my parents accident. And the really stupid thing was that the only time I felt like that girl, was when I was with you.”

She searched his gaze and held her breath.

Damon stared into her face before looking away and pulling his hands from hers.

He started the car and Elena felt her stomach drop.

“Damon?”

“Not now Elena... I’m driving us to the nearest motel and then we’ll talk, but I just need you to be quiet for a little while to let me think.”

Elena felt sick at his expressionless tone and her eyes stung with sudden tears.

“O..Okay... just... um about the blood bo...”.

“I said Not now . We’ll talk about that when we get there” he bit out, cutting her off. 

He glanced her way before turning his attention back to the road.

“I just need some time to process okay?” 

“All right Damon.” She agreed, swallowing back the tears. 

Elena settled back into the seat of Damon’s Camaro and tried not to wonder about what Damon might be thinking as she stared out at dark landscape beyond the passenger window. But she couldn’t help worry that maybe she really had left it too late to tell him how she felt. That just maybe, Damon had finally had enough of her cowardliness. That she might have lost her last chance with him when she’d been so harsh on the dance floor at Whitmore College.  
She just prayed that she was wrong.

Damon meanwhile; was busy trying not to let his emotions run away with themselves. Elena had said she was in love with him. A part of him wanted sing with joy at that, while another more cynical part kept reminding him that she’d chosen a very convenient time to realize that what she felt was love.

Did Elena’s sudden feelings have more to do with Katherine’s confession, or had Katherine and her feelings for him been a wake up call and nothing more? 

Damon loved Elena, but he knew her. Could he risk his already damaged heart on the word of a girl who had openly rejected him less than half a day ago?  
Did Elena truly love him, or was it more about Katherine’s feelings and Elena’s fear of losing him to someone else... Someone she hated.  
Everything she had told him had made sense on the surface of things. But Damon wasn’t use to getting the things he wanted. And that part of him was scared that if he did do the blood bond with her and her feelings weren’t what she said they were ... Well truthfully, he knew he wouldn’t survive it.

By the time he’d found a suitable hotel and paid the clerk, he was still no closer to deciding what he was going to say to Elena and the sad expression in her eyes wasn’t helping any.

 

Damon ushered her through the doorway of their room and turned to close the door behind him. Engaging the old fashioned lock, he stared at his hand and tried to gather his thoughts.

“Damon?”

He started at the soft question in her voice; his name pulling him out of his own head, making him aware that his time for thinking about his current situation was over. Now it was time to face it and he still didn’t have any idea what he was going to say.

Turning to look her, he met her worried gaze and sighed heavily. Rubbing his hands over his weary face, he studied Elena’s expression and thought about his options.  
He could stick with original decision and just leave town. Eventually, he’d get over Elena the same way he’d gotten over Katherine.  
But Elena wasn’t Katherine and now that she was a vampire he would have to spend a considerable amount of time and distance, to avoid his urges where she was concerned. He’d loved her when she was his brothers. Could he stop loving her now that he knew she felt something for him, even if it wasn’t as strong as what he felt for her? 

Of course, that would mean staying and taking the chance. Gambling that Elena’s feelings were what she said they were and that it wouldn’t all fall apart the moment he reached for something real.  
He studied the worried expression on her face, the fear and hope in her eyes.

Fuck it! When did he turn into his brother?

This was the woman he loved and she was nothing like Katherine.  
Katherine had run from her feelings, no matter how she dressed it up in pretty little bows. She’d had a goddamn spell done so she wouldn’t have to face what she felt. And yes, Elena had run too, but she had been brave enough to stop when she realized that facing how she felt, was far better than losing him.

So yeah... Fuck that. 

He’d do the blood bond and if it turned out that Elena didn’t feel quiet what she thought, he’d just have to deal.  
He’d loved her when he was sure she hated him, why the hell would he turn down anything she was willing to give, just because it might not be what he hoped for.

Damon reached out and pulled her into his arms.

Staring into her eyes, he took a deep unnecessary breath.

“Okay. Let’s do this Elena. I’ll take the risk if you will.”

Elena opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, Damon continued.

“One thing Elena. No matter what happens… no regrets... Okay? If things don’t go the way you think they will, I don’t want you getting all guilt ridden about me. I’m a big boy and no matter what happens Ill survive. We clear?” he asked, studying her expression.

Elena found herself trying very hard to suppress the grin that was fighting to free itself. Damon was giving her a chance. He was scared she’d break his heart, but he was still giving her the chance to do it.  
She ducked her head to hide her expression and moved closer to snuggle into his arms.

“Yes Damon I promise.” 

Damon’s arms wrapped around her body and Elena slumped into them, partly in relief, but mostly because it was Damon and his touch was something she’d craved for longer than she cared to admit.

Damon felt a lump form in his throat as he felt Elena’s body surrender to his embrace. When she nuzzled into his neck he had to fight down the sudden sense of unreality that hit him in a dizzying rush.

Moving backwards, without releasing the girl in his arms, Damon eased both of them down on to the waiting bed.  
As he looked into her upturned face he couldn’t help remembering the last time they had been in a similar position. Except, that time he’d been dying and she’d felt nothing but pity for her boyfriends brother. This time, she was lying in his arms and looking at him like he was the only thing she could see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've liked it or hated it let me know. It makes a writers day when a reader takes time to comment.
> 
> Now... just one more chapter to go.


	12. Resolution and new beginnings.

Chapter Twelve

 

 

Elena closed her eyes as Damon’s mouth found hers; her body melting into his with a longing that even knowing her feelings, still took her by surprise. 

From that long ago night in Denver when they had shared one passionate kiss, Elena had known intellectually that kissing Damon was intense; what she hadn’t realized was that kissing him without the denial, would be devastating.

The moment she opened her mouth to his it was as if someone had set her body on fire. Her very blood seemed to burn with the need to be closer to him and within moments she found herself whimpering into his mouth and wanting nothing more than to be skin to skin with the man in her arms. 

She knew she loved Damon; she knew she wanted Damon, but until this moment she hadn’t known that Damon was what she needed. 

 

She’d had boyfriends and enjoyed a healthy sex life in her past. But nothing in those previous encounters had prepared her for the passion that surged through her body with Damon’s’ touch. Her own admittance of what she felt for him; highlighting her physical need to an extent she hadn’t even dreamed was possible. 

Clawing frantically at his shirt she didn’t even bother going for the buttons to undo it. She wanted him naked and she wanted it now. 

Gasping for breath that she didn’t need, she pulled away from his mouth only long enough to tear the shirt from his body and to wrench open the fastenings on his jeans. 

 

Damon wasn’t slow to echo her intentions. Her shirt went sailing, closely followed by her ripped bra and panties; leaving Elena in just her denim skirt and Damon’s opened jeans riding low on his hips. 

All Elena knew in that moment; was that she didn’t have time to worry about getting the rest of their clothes off. She was skin to skin with him now and the heat between them was threatening to burn her up. There was no time for soft and slow; no thought of the blood bond that they had committed to enacting. And definitely not enough time to get properly naked. She wanted him now; she needed him in her; to be part of her. She needed to be his in every way it counted.

Panting harshly, she reached for the rigid hardness she could feel pressed up against her thigh. Her hand closed around steel like hardness encased in velvet soft skin and she mewled with need as she felt him thrust into her hand.  
Impatient greed burst through her; desire unlike anything she had ever experienced. Without conscious thought she rolled and straddled him, her skirt hitching up around her waist as her thighs settled either side of his hips. Her mouth was still on his as she tightened her hand and guided his cock to her entrance. 

 

Damon hissed as Elena’s small hand grasped his length; only to growl seconds later when he was unexpectedly forced over and onto his back. Any thoughts he might have had about her unexpected surge of dominance, went by the wayside when he felt the warm wet heat of her surround his length.

 

As Elena sank down on Damon’s shaft, the only thought in her head was more. She wanted more of his hands his mouth his cock, his love. She wanted everything. As his girth stretched her and she gasped her pleasure into his mouth, Elena knew that everything she’d ever suspected about Damon Salvatore was true. 

her fears had been founded. Everything she’d been so scared of looking at too closely was justified. Oh yes; she’d had good reason to fear giving in to her feelings for Damon. 

She knew the truth now.

This man was the one she’d been made for; this man was the one she would never be able to live without. And for the first time since the night she’d died, she was so very glad that she’d lived to become a vampire. 

She would never have been able to stay human if this had happened before that night. Because in that part of her she’d kept locked away and refused to face, she’d known that if she ever did give in she’d want it all. Everything.  
And one lifetime of this…one lifetime with him… would never have been enough. 

 

Damon’s mind blanked the moment he was inside Elena. Every thought and possibility that he’d ever entertained in his fantasies, paling in comparison to the reality of being inside the woman he loved. 

His only thought was the need to be closer, to be part of her, for her to finally be his and only his. 

Grasping her by her upper thighs he surged upright, his hands gliding across her flanks and upwards. Smoothing over her ass, they skated over the curves of her waist before sliding across her back to her shoulders. Now in his lap; his back against the flimsy headboard of the motel bed he pulled her firmly down onto his cock. The moment her legs locked in place, what little self control he had left fled. Unable to wait another second he rolled his hips upward and started to move.

 

Elena gasped as Damon sat up. His hardness driving deep inside her even as her legs clamped around his waist. Her arms went around his neck as his surrounded her torso, his hands sliding up to grasp her shoulders from behind, pulling her down and even closer to him. She cried out his name as he moved within her, her breath ragged as their embrace on each other tightened with their mutual need.

 

Damon didn’t think, as he heard Elena call his name he ripped his mouth from hers and fastened it on her throat. As his fangs sank into her flesh he felt Elena’s clamp down on his shoulder, her blood hitting the back of his throat, even as he felt her pull her first mouthful from him. 

Seconds later; both blood bond and orgasm rolled through him and he finally knew everything she felt for him.

 

Elena’s last thought before she followed Damon over the edge and into ecstasy, was only one word.  
Mine.

 

 

Katherine cursed as she left Elena’s house. How the hell had she let Stefan distract her like that.

Damon and Elena had left and she’d barely even noticed. God Damn it! And God damn, Stefan Salvatore.

Now Damon was out there somewhere with Elena and it might already be too late. 

“Fuck!” 

This time when she found them, she wasn’t going to play nice anymore. She was going to rip her doppelgangers’ head off and then she was going to do her level best to convince Damon that it was her that he wanted, not Elena fucking Gilbert.

Stomping towards her car, she was so lost in her own rage filled emotions that she failed to sense Elijah in time.

 

Suddenly without warning, she was being lifted by her throat and held with a casual ease that told her that her time on earth might have finally run out. 

Her eyes met those of the originals and the calmness in his gaze made her shudder.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she steeled herself, before pulling on the necessary mask.

“Elijah. How predictable. Come to gloat have you, or were you just in the neighborhood?” she drawled; her eyes flat with suppressed rage and no small amount of fear.

“Now now Katarina, there is no need to be catty. You are hardly in the position to complain my dear.”

He smiled lazily.

“And I did after all, give you what you asked for, did I not?” 

 

Even with his hand around her throat, Katherine couldn’t help rolling her eyes at his superior tone. 

"Oh yes you gave me what I wanted all right" she hissed. "Except for the part where you failed to mention that it was apparently a two for one sort of deal where you also gave Elena what she wanted as well.” 

Not even trying to control her anger with him, Katherine squirmed against his hold, as her fear of what might be happening with Damon overtook her fear of the vampire that held her. 

“Damn it Elijah. Thanks to you Stefan thinks that I’m in some sort of denial and that he's my one true love. What the hell did you do to him? He's being even more pathetic than he was when I first met him and he won't listen to a word I say."

She glared up into his face and tried to push her worry away.

 

"Katerina, Katarina. Whatever shall I do with you?" He mused thoughtfully. 

"Have I not done what you wished? After all, I have simply put things right… reset the clock if you will. Stefan is no longer hiding behind his human nobility. He now has no choice but to face how he truly feels and admit that Elena was only a replacement for the woman he actually loves." 

He smiled again at the expression of dismay that flickered in her eyes with his words.  
Smile aside; his tone was innocent as he continued to speak.

"All pretense has been cleared completely away my dear and now you are all free to love who you will. Is that not what you asked for Katarina?"

 

Katherine shivered in his grip. The words he spoke were conciliatory and respectful, but the expression in his eyes was as cold and hard as ice.

She sighed in defeat and closed her eyes briefly, before opening them to meet his.

“I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy” she muttered, her tone bitter.

“You planned this from the start didn’t you? You were never going to let me have what I wanted, were you Elijah. It’s all been some sort of game to you, another way to punish me for not loving you.” She spat out angrily.

“Well congratulations Elijah. Damon’s probably lost to me forever and I’ll likely have to spend more years in hiding just to avoid Stefan. You might as well just finish it now and put me out of my misery.” She finished miserably. 

 

“Ah Katarina. Always so dramatic.” He drawled arching a brow. 

“As unlikely as it seems my dear, I did not do this to punish you. I make no pretense of liking Damon Salvatore and if circumstances were different I would have been quite happy to watch you make him miserable in the unique way only you can. However, I do owe somewhat of a debt to Elena and it is for Elena, that I have done what needs must.” 

Katherine scowled and Elijah found himself feeling suddenly weary of the whole thing.

He shook his head sadly as he studied the anger and defiance in her gaze.

“As old as you are Katarina, I fear you may never understand what Elena feels for Damon. And as much as I hate to admit it, what Damon feels in return. Unlike you; Elena when she loves someone, is wholehearted in her feelings. And though it took her a little longer that I had hoped for her to admit to those feelings, she unlike you is not a coward”.

Elijah loosened his hold on Katherine’s neck and set her back on her feet.

“Damon and Elena are very alike, when it comes down to it. They both love quite selflessly when it concerns the others happiness. And Elena does not deserve to be anyone’s second best.” His gaze softened, as he studied her now closed off features. 

“And neither do you Katarina” he offered gently.

“You must know that If I had done as you asked my dear, sooner or later that’s what you would have been… and not even you deserve that.” His hand on her throat loosened even more as he tried to make her understand the truths, truths which he with all his years could see so clearly. 

“You had your chance with Damon and you chose to let fear destroy that chance. And it wasn’t the fear of me that made you decide to do what you did, but fear of your own heart. I am truly sorry for my part in it Katherine, but regardless of what I might have done back then, you are the one that destroyed any chance at happiness you had when you commissioned Gloria’s spell.”

 

Katherine swallowed around the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. 

Elijah’s words were harsh, but his voice and his eyes were strangely gentle as he spoke. 

And deep down inside, where the girl she’d once been still lived, Katherine knew that everything he had said was true. She felt her eyes well up with tears, as for the first time in her vampiric life; Katherine felt true and deep regret for her own actions.

 

Seeing the tears in Katherine’s eyes, Elijah let go of her throat completely and pulled her in against his body.

“Hush Katarina, this too will pass.” He promised, his words a whisper against her throat.

“Not one of us; even with all our powers can change the past, but we can learn to accept it and to move on. If you can accept that Damon did love you and that you loved him, then that is a good thing, no matter the pain you feel now. You must let him go Kat or you will never be free of your past and I have found that those that will not let go of the past, are doomed to repeat it.” He leaned back and looked down at her bowed head. 

“If it helps…I too am letting go of the past and starting a new life and I would welcome the company of a friend in that life… when she is ready?”

 

Katherine raised her eyes to his, her lashes spiky with tears she’d yet to shed.

Elijah’s expression was open and his eyes were kind as he met hers. 

“I don’t understand Elijah. Why are you doing this? You made my life miserable for centuries, why are you doing all this now?”

 

Elijah sighed heavily, before easing her away from his body and taking both her hands in his.

“I am old Katarina and I am tired. I too have been guilty of holding on to the past and old grudges and it has served me little but pain.” He admitted studying her expression. 

“Half my family is dead and those that are left continue to bicker and plot. And for what? Are any of us happier than we were when we were still human?” 

He shook his head and squeezed her hands gently.

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my existence stuck in the past Katherine; I want a future with new expectations. And I will never have that, not until I put the grievances of my old life aside.” 

His thumbs caressed the back of her hands soothingly as he continued to speak.

“Elena has reminded me that there is still good in the world. She saved mine and my siblings lives when she told me of our mother’s plan. Until then, I had forgotten that the world could be a good place and that there were people out there that were truly good in it. For the first time in the millennia of my existence, I took a step back and considered that I didn’t have to be the way I was. Things did not have to stay the way they were, that I did not have live by Klaus’s rules. I realized I could change and then I realized that I wanted to. Now it is up to you to realize the same.”

 

Releasing her hands, Elijah stepped back.

“We are both of us free. But it is up to you what you do with that freedom. Only you can decide what comes next. And I hope for your sake, that you choose wisely this time Katherine. And if you need a friend, I can offer to be yours… It is up to you.” 

He smiled.

“And Katherine… do not worry about Stefan, all will be as it should be. You have me word on this”. He promised. Glancing back at her before he turned to leave, he winked.

Then sketching a brief bow he turned away.

“You have my number.” He threw over his shoulder. 

Catching her eye one last time, he smiled again before fading into the gloom of the coming dawn. 

 

Katherine watched him go and found herself wondering for the first time, what it would be like to have a friend. 

 

Stefan stormed into the boarding house determined to find his brother and find out what the hell was going on. 

When his search failed to find any trace of Damon he made his way back to the parlor and poured himself the largest glass of whisky he could stomach.

Everything tonight was a blur. Katherine in Damon’s bed, his break up with Elena, the sudden and unexpected resurgence of his feelings for Katherine; all of them had him reeling as he gulped down a mouthful of alcohol.

He was so confused. 

He had truly believed that what he’d felt for Katherine was long over and that Elena was the one he wanted. But the combination of Elena’s breakup speech and the jealousy he’s felt seeing her with Damon, had made him face up to a few things that he’d deliberately avoided thinking about.

To be truthful; a lot of his anger towards Damon and Katherine had to do with how ashamed he felt over the whole Elena situation. How could he have deluded himself like that? How could he have used Elena that way? 

That wasn’t who he was…was it?

Suddenly weary and feeling the effects of the mounting drama that had become his life, Stefan decided to shelve the whole thing until later. 

He’d catch up with Damon tomorrow and find out where Kat had disappeared to and then maybe he’d go apologize to Elena. But for now he just wanted to lie down and sleep.

Heading up to his room, Stefan didn’t even question his decision to shelve what had seemed desperately urgent only minutes before. And when he woke up the following morning, feeling strangely lighter and freer than he’d felt in years he didn’t question that either. 

Even as he was dressing and wondering if Damon had stayed over at Elena’s last night it didn’t occur to him that anything was out of the ordinary.

And when Damon and Elena came in the door laughing and kissing just after noon before hastily heading up stairs to Damon’s room, he didn’t think anything of it. 

He simply grinned and rolled his eyes at their antics and wondered if Caroline would be up for coffee at the grill.

After all, he thought with a fond shake of his head, knowing those two the noise level at the grill would probably be his quieter option.

Whistling on his way to his car, Stefan found himself thinking that just lately life seemed exceptionally good. 

 

And miles away from Mystic Falls; letting the gentle motion of the train pull him down into sleep, Elijah smiled.

 

The end

**Author's Note:**

> So it is finally done... I hope if you enjoyed it you take time to leave kudos or if I'm lucky a review.  
> The reviews I've had here and at the other site I post showed a marked preference for Delena so I'm sorry if the Katherine fans were disappointed but majority rules.  
> Hope you enjoyed the journey regardless of the ship.  
> Cheers and thanks for reading  
> Bitcheesquared.


End file.
